05^ 


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THE 


a'merican 
annual  register; 

FOR 

THE  YEAR  1829  — 30, 

OR  THE 

FIFTYFOURTH  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE. 
SECOND  EDITION. 


BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED    BY   GRAY    AND  BOWEN. 

NEW  YORK: 
E.    AND    G.    W.  BLUNT. 


1832. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1831. 

By  Gray  &  Boaven, 
in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

UNITED  STATES.— Inauguration  of  General  Jackson.— State  of  Public  Affairs. 
— Political  Principles  of  President. — New  Cabinet. — Removals — Opposition  in 
Senate. — Post-office  Department. — Dissensions  in  the  Cabinet. — Controversy 
between  the  President  and  Vice  President. — Cause  and  consequence  thereof.  .  9 

Situation  of  the  Country. — Claims  upon  France  5  origin  of  Claims. — Claims 
upon  Denmark  ;  settlement  of — History  of  French  Claims  ;  negotiations  con- 
cerning same. — Brazil. — Negotiations  with  Turkey  5  Treaty. — Great  Britain; 
Colonial  Controversy;  History  of  Dispute. — Policy  of  Great  Britain  ;  of  United 

f  States.— Law  of  1818  ;  of  1820.— Negotiation.— British  Law  of  1822.— Law  of 
1823. — American  Ports  opened. — British  Law  of  1S25. — Colonial  Ports  closed.— 
Negotiations  renewed. — Proceedings  in  Congress. — Concessions  by  United 
States. — American  Ports  opened. — Colonial  Ports  opened.       .        .       .       ,  26 

Treaties  between  the  United  States  and  Cherokees.— Condition  of  Cherokees.— 
Constitution  adopted  by  do. — Policy  of  Georgia. — Views  of  Federal  Govern- 
ment.— Question  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  United  States. — Conduct  of 
Georgia. — Proceedings  in  Congress. — Bill  reported  in  Senate, — Proceedings  in 
Senate.— In  House.— Passage  of  Bill.— Character  of  Bill  43 

Opinions  in  South  Carolina. — Proceedings  in  Southern  States.— Nullification.— 
Public  Lands;  system  of  disposing  of  same. — Pretensions  of  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois.— Graduation  Bill. — Mr  Foot's  Resolution  ;  Debate  thereon. — Mr  Hayne's 
Spccok — Mr  Webster's  Reply.— Effect  of  Discussion.— Graduation  Bill  passes 
the  Senate.— Laid  ovei  1-  «o„se.— Nullification  Party  62 

Opening  of  the  First  Session  of  Twentyfirst  L.uug.^.„  — President's  Message.— 
Retrenchment. — Amendments  to  Constitution. — United  States  t>miK. —  ilriff; 
Bill  to  enforce  ;  Policy;  Discussion  of  and  Passage. — Bills  to  reduce  Duty  on 
•  Salt;  on  Molasses;  on  Tea  and  Coffee. — Tonnage  Duties. — Cash  Duties. — Mr 
Benton's  Scheme. — Mr  Cambreleng's  Navigation  Bill. — Discussion  concerning 
prosperity  of  Country  ■  .       .  143 

Treasury  Report  for  1829. — Appropriations  for  1830  — Support  of  Government. — 
Discussion  on  Bill. — Naval  Service. — Marine  Corps. — Fortifications. — Engineer 
Department. — Military  Service. — Indian  Department. — Massachusetts  Claim.    .  176 

Progress  of  Internal  Improvement. — Act  of  1824. — Opposition  to  System. — Cour  e 
of  Discussion. — President's  Opinion. — Orleans  and  Buffalo  Road  Bill. — Surv  ey 
Bill  ;  Discussion  concerning  same. — Conditional  Approval. — Maysville  Ro  d 
Bill ;  Rejected. — Discussion  on  Message. — Washington  Turnpike  Bill  ;  Reject- 
ed.— Louisville  Canal  and  Lighthouse  Bills  ;  Retained. — Harbor  Bill.       .  191 

MEXICO. — Condition  of  Country. — Invasion  from  Havana. — Defeat  and  Capitula- 
tion of  Invaders. — Revolution. — Separation  of  Yucatan. — Abdication  cf  Guerre- 
o —    Bustamente  chosen  217 

COLOMBIA. — Mosquera  elected  President. — Castillo's  project  of  a  Constitution. 
— Congress  convoked  on  January,  1830. — Attempt  to  introduce  a  Monarchy. — 
Revolt  of  Cordova. — Arrival  of  Bolivar  at  Bogota. — Resigns  his  office  to  Con- 
gress.— Message  to  Congress  ;  Character  of  do. — Separation  of  Venezuela. 
Causes  of  Discontent. — Overthrow  of  Government. — Negotiations. — Mosquera 
chosen  by  Congress. — Commotions  at  Bogota. — Constitution  accepted. — Sucre 
assassinated. — Movements  in  favor  of  Bolivar.— Dissolution  of  the  Government. 
— Bolivar  reassumes  the  Government. — Bolivar's  death.         ,        .       .       ,  222 


V 


iv.  CONTENTS. 

Page, 

BUENOS  AYRES.— Condition  of  Country.— Civil  War.— Retreat  of  Rosas.— 
New  Government.'— Pacification. — Viamout  elected  Governor. — Proceedings 
concerning  Dorrego's  Execution. — Rosas  elected  Governor, — New  Disturban- 
ces.— Quiroga  defeated. — Invasion  of  Cuyo.— Meeting  of  Legislature. — Condi- 
tion of  Country.— Monte  Video  244 

FRANCE. — Vicissitudes  in  France. — Polignac  Ministry. — Public  Opinion. — La 
Fayette  in  Lyons.— Breton  Association. — Parisian  Cafes. — Pamphlets. — Jour- 
nals.— Journalism. — Comite  Directeur. — Jesuits. — State  of  the  Question. — 
Meeting  of  the  Chambers.-— Character  of  Parties.  251 

France,  Continued. — Meeting  of  the  Chambers. — Speech  of  the  King. — Ad- 
dress of  the  Deputies. — Prorogation. — Discussions. — Dissolution  of  the  Cham- 
ber.— New  Ministers. — Elections. — Algerine  Expedition. — State  of  Algiers. — 
Cause  of  the  War. — Preparation. — Landing  in  Africa. — Surrender  of  Algiers. — 
Colonization  of  Africa.  285 

FRANCE;,  Continued. — Consequences  ofthefallof  Algiers. — Ministerial  arrange- 
ments.— State  of  Parties. — The  Ordinances. — Their  effect. — Protest  of  Journal- 
ists.— State  of  the  Question. — Protest  of  the  Deputies. — Police  arrangements.  .  307 

France,  Continued. — The  Three  Days. — Military  arrangements. — Marmont. — 
The  Garrison. — Dispersion  of  the  People. — Night  of  Tuesday. — The  Citizens 
arm  on  Wednesday. — Marmont's  Plans. — Deputation  of  the  Citizens. — Move- 
ments of  the  Troops. — Conflict  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. — Retreat  of  the  Troops. — 
Their  conduct. — Barricades,  Thursday. — The  Polytechnic  School. — Position  of 
the  Garrison. — Combats. — Capture  of  the  Louvre. — Evacuation  of  the  Tuileries 
and  of  Paris. — Conduct  of  the  People. — Their  Losses.  323 

France,  Continued. — Provisional  Government  of  Thursday. — La  Fayette. — 
Proposal  of  the  King. — The  Due  d'Orleans  made  Lieutenant  General. — State  of 
Paris. — Expulsion  of  the  Bourbons. — Remarks  357 

France,  Concluded. — Proceedings  of  the  Chambers. — The  new  Charter. — Due 
d'Orleans  King. — Settlement  of  the  Government. — Conclusion.        .       .       .    3  80 

NETHERLANDS.— Opposition  of  the  Allies  to  Republican  Governments.— 
Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands. — The  creation  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. — Uni- 
ted Provinces,  Islands,  «fec,  of  German  origin. — Walloons  of  the  Gallic  race. — 
Contests  of  the  fifth  century  between  the  Salians  and  Saxons. — Conversion  of 
Witikend  to  Christianity. — Conquest  of  the  Country  by  Charlemagne- — Corpo- 
rate Trades. — Charles,  the  great-grandfather  of  Charles  Fifth. — Marriacf  «f  ^'^^ 
daughter  with  Maximilian  of  Austria.— Connexion  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. — 
Charles  Fifth.— Reformation.— Inqnioitiou.— riiilip.— William  of  Nassau.— The 
obnoxious  Minister  Gianvilie. — Gueux  or  Beggars,  the  title  of  the  opposers  ot 
Government. — Division  between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics. — Union  of  the 
Seven  United  Provinces. — Power  of  the  Dutch  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eigh- 
teenth Centuries.— Conquests  in  the  East  and  West  Indies. — French  Revolu- 
tion.— Batavian  Republic. — Kingdom  of  Holland. — French  Province. — Belgium 
annexed  to  France. — Revolution  of  1813. — Restoration  of  House  of  Nassau. — 
Constitution. — Belgium  united  with  Holland. — Assembly  of  Notables. — Amend- 
ed Constitution.— Public  Debt. — Situation  of  the  Netherlands  as  to  Foreign 
Powers.- — Internal  disputes  from  the  Catholic  Religion  and  Education. — Free 
Trade  and  Restriction.— Ordinances  as  to  Language. — Budget. — M.  de  Potter, — 
His  Trial. — Session  of  1829. — Ministerial  Responsibility. — Law  on  the  Press. — 
Revolution  of  26th  August,  1830. — Demands  of  the  Belgians. — Meeting  of  the 
States  General,  12th  September,  1830.— King's  Speech —Provisional  Govern- 
ment at  Brussels. — Attack  of  Prince  Frederick. — Recognition  of  the  Belgians 
by  the  Prince  of  Orange.— Return  of  M.  de  Potter  to  Brussels.— Character  of 
King  William  395 

THE  PENINSULA.— Spain.— Rumors.— Queen's  Death.— Public  expectations. 
—Arrival  of  the  new  Queen.— Law  of  Succession.— Portugal  41-$. 

ENGLAND.— Retrospective  view  of  the  settlement  of  the  Catholic  Question  in 
1829. — Its  consequences. — Its  essential  connexion  with  other  projects  of  Reform. 
— Meeting  of  Parliament,  February, 1 830. — Debates  on  the  Addresses. — Universal 
Distress  of  the  Country. — Amendments  to  the  Addresses,  proposed;  rejected. — 
Amendment  of  Lord  King. — Reduction  and  substitution  of  Taxes. — Parliamenta- 
ry Reform.— Aff'airs  of  India.— Foreign  Affairs.-Greece.-Portugal.— Death  of 
George  IV. — Notices  of  his  Life  and  Character. — Accession  of  William  IV.— 
Notices  of  his  previous  Life. — Dissolution  of  Parliament.— Meeting  of  the  new 


s/.^S  CONTENTS.  v 

0.\7  Page 

Parliament. — Declaration  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  against  Parliamentary  Re- 
form.— Threatened  Riots  in  London. — Postponement  of  the  Banquet  on  Lord 
Mayor's  day. — Civil  List. — Motion  for  inquiry  carried  against  the  Ministers. — 
They  Resign. — New  Ministry. — Earl  Grey  Premier. — Reform. — Riots  and  Dis- 
turbances in  the  Country  419 


Executive  Officers  of  the  United  States, 

Judiciary,  .... 

Diplomatic  Corps,  .  . 

Army  Promotions,  .  .       ,  . 

Navy  Promotions,      .  . 

Members  of  the  21st  Congress, 

Governors  of  States, 

Census  of  1830,  ... 

Duties  received  in  1829 

Public  Debt  of  the  United  States, 

Custom-house  Returns, 

Treasury  Returns, 

Sales  of  Public  Lands  for  1829,  . 

Expenditures  of  United  States  for  1829, 

Imports  and  Exports  from  1821  to  1829, 

Commerce  of  each  State  and  Territory,  for  1828-9, 

Statistical  View  of  the  Commerce  of  the  United  States  for  the  year  ending 
September  30, 1829,  ....... 

Condensed  View  of  the  Tonnage  of  the  several  Districts  of  the  United  State 
on  the  31st  December,  1828,         ....  .  . 

Abstract  of  the  Tonnage  of  the  Shipping  of  the  several  Districts  of  the  United 
States  on  the  31st  December,  1828,  ..... 

Quantities  of  American  and  Foreign  Tonnage  entered  into,  and  departing  from 
each  District  of  the  United  States  during  the  year  ending  Sept.  30,  1829, 

Recapitulation  of  the  Tonnage  of  the  United  States  for  the  yoer  1828, 

Summary  statement  of  Merchandise  imported  into  the  United  States,  in  Ameri 

^  can  and  Foreign  vessels  from  Oct.  1,  1828,  to  Sept.  30,  1829, 

Summary  statement  of  the  value  of  the  Exports  of  the  Growth,  Produce  and 
Manufacture  of  the  United  States,  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  Seo- 
tember,  1829,  .  .  .  •  .  .  \ 

Statement  showing  the  whole  amount  of  Indian  Annuities  now  payable  under 
treaty  provisions  ;  dates  of  the  acts  of  oppropriation  ;  names  of  tribes  to  whom 
payable  ;  the  sums  which  are  permanent,  and  those  which  are  limited,  and  the 
terms  of  limitation,  .... 


LOCAL  HISTORY  AND  DOMESTIC  OCCURRENCES. 


Maine, 

New  Hampshire, 

Vermont, 

Massachusetts, 

Rhode  Island, 

Connecticut, 

New  York, 

New  Jersey, 

Pennsylvania, 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 

Virginia, 

North  Carolina, 

South  Carolina, 

Georgia, 

Alabama, 

Mississippi, 

Louisiana, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 

Ohio, 

Indiana, 

Illinois, 

Missouri 


vi 


CONTENTS. 


PUBLIC  DOCUMENTS. 

Page. 

Message  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  to  the  Twentyfirst  Congress, 

First  Session,          .          .          .          ......  1 

Message  from  the  President  rejecting  the  Maysville  and  Lexington  Road  Bill,      .  22 
Treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Brazil,           .         .         .          .  .33 

Treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Prussia,         .  .         .  .  .43 

Convention  between  the  United  States  and  Denmark,         .         .         .  .49 

Correspondence  in  relation  to  the  Trade  between  the  United  States  and  British 

Colonies,        ..........  52 

Proclamation  of  President  of  the  United  States  opening  the  Ports   .         .         .  114 

Circular  to  the  Collectors  of  Customs,           ......  116 

Correspondence  in  relation  to  opening  the  Ports,      .         ,         .  .  .117 

Order  in  Council  opening  the  Ports,       .......  120 

Present  and  proposed  Import  Duties  in  the  American  Colonies,      .         .          .  122 
Documents  concerning  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  Creek  and 

Cherokee  Indians,      .........  123 

Message  of  President  Guerrero  to  the  Mexican  Congress,    ....  146 

Proclamation  of  do.  abolishing  Slavery,          ......  147 

Decree  of  the  General  Congress  in  relation  to  Imposts,       ....  147 

Proclamation  of  the  Liberator  to  the  Colombians,      .....  149 

Message  of  do.  to  the  Constituent  Congress,             .....  150 

Proclamation  of  General  Paez  to  the  Venezuelians,            ....  155 

New  Colombian  Tariff,           ........  156 

Speech  of  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  on  the  opening  of  the  General  Assembly,           .  158 

Decree  of  the  Banda  Oriental  at  Montevideo,  relative  to  the  Tariff,         .          .  169 

Speech  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  to  Parliament,            ....  161 

Speech  of  the  Governor  of  Upper  Canada  to  the  Provincial  Legislature,    .         .  163 

Do.  of  Governor  of  Lower  Canada.       .......  165 

Speech  of  King  of  France  to  the  Chambers,            .....  167 

Address  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers  to  the  King,           .          .         .          .          •  169 

Address  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,            ......  171 

Proclamation  of  King  of  France,         .......  173 

Report  of  the  Freneh  Ministers  to  the  King,            .         .         .         .         .  174 

Decrees  of  the  King,              ........  180 

Protest  of  the  Deputies,           ........  184 

Proclamation  of  the  French  Deputies,          ......  185 

Proclamation  of  the  Due  d'Orleans,               ......  186 

Ordinances  of  the  Lieutenant  General  of  France,       .....  186 

Proclamation  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,          .         ^        .         .          .  187 

Speech  of  do.  to  the  States  General,              ......  188 

Abstract  of  the  Treaties  which  constructed  the  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,      .  190 

Greek  Protocol,           .........  193 

Memoir  of  the  Greek  Senate,             .                  .....  196 

Resignation  of  Prince  Leopold,           .......  201 

Acts  of  the  Tvitentyfirst  Congress,  First  Session.        .         ,  204-237 

LAW  CASES. 

James  Jackson  ex.  dem  Harman  v.  Hart.  vs.  Elias  Lamphire— Constitutional 

Question,        ..........  239 

HiramCraiget.al.  vs.  the  State  of  Missouri— Constitutional  Question,      .         .  241 

John  Soulard,  widow  and  others,  appellants  vs.  the  United  States,  do.       .          .  260 

The  Providence  Bank  vs.  Billings  and  Pitman,         .....  261 

OBITUARY. 

Sir  David  Baird, 
Bushrod  Washington, 
Queen  of  Portugal, 
Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
George  Tierney, 
William  Tudor, 
Marquis  de  Lally  Tollendal, 

Errata, 


.  265 

.  267 

.  269 

.  269 

.  270 

.  271 

.  273 

.  275 


AMERICAN  ANNUAL  REiiiSTEIl, 

FOR 

THE  YEARS  1829  — 1830- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

InaiLguraiion  of  General  Jackson.  —  Sicite  of  Affairs.  — fo'iticat 
Principles  of  President.  —  New  Cabinet .  —  Rsmovals.  —  Oppo- 
sition in  Senate.  —  Post  Ojfice  Department.  —  Dissentions  in  the 
Cabinet.  —  Controversy  between  the  President  an  . I  Vice  Presi^ 
dent. —  Cause  and  Consequence  thereof. 


On  the  4tb  of  March,  1829,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Senate,  tlie 
members  of  tlie  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  a  vast  concourse 
of  people,  General  Andrew  Jack- 
son took  the  oath  of  oflice  and 
entered  upon  the  administration 
of  the  government  of  the  United 
States. 

A  long  train  of  fortunate  events 
Iiad  prepared  his  way  for  a  happy 
and  prosperous  career  in  his  new 
character  as  a  Civil  Magistrate. 
His  military  success  at  a  peculiar 
crisis  had  given  him  a  strong  claim 
upon  the  country,  and  the  energy, 
decision  and  self-devotion  mani- 
fested in  various  trying  emergen- 
cies had  obtained  for  him  a  large 
share  of  the  public  confidence. 
2 


Nor  was  the  aspect  of  the  po- 
lidcal  atmosphere  less  propit;  nis. 
The  administration  of  his  prr.de- 
CGssor  had  been  arrested  by  the 
popular  will  in  the  nnilst  of  its 
career,  before  the  merits  or  de- 
merits of  its  policy  had  been  fully 
tested,  and  with  so  decided  an 
expression  of  public  feeling 
against  its  continuance,  as  to  leave 
its  members  no  ability  and  a|)pa- 
rently  little  inclination  to  o.Ter  an 
early  opposition  to  the  new  Ex- 
ecutive. I'he  community  was 
tired  of  political  warfare,  and-  a 
general  disposition  was  evinced  to 
give  the  measures  of  the  adminis- 
tration a  fair  trial.  Some  uncer- 
tainty of  course  existed  as  to  die 
policy  which  the  new  President 


10 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


might  feel  bound  to  adopt.  His 
political  experience  bad  not  been 
great,  and  the  inferences  which  the 
public  had  drawn  as  to  his  princi- 
ples from  his  declarations  and 
votes  when  in  the  federal  Senate, 
liad  been  rendered  somewhat  un- 
certain by  the  contradictory  asser- 
tions made  by  his  supporters  in 
different  sections  of  the  Union 
end  by  the  decided  political  char- 
acter of  that  portion  of  his  adher- 
ents, who  had  been  ranked  in  the 
previous  contest  among  the  friends 
of  the  late  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury (Mr  Crawford.)  That  class 
of  public  men  was  regarded  as 
contending  for  a  strict,  or  what 
was  denominated  a  narrow,  con- 
struction of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, and  their  support  w^as  given 
to  him  upon  principles  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  policy  that  governed 
the  administration  of  Mr  Monroe. 
All  the  other  candidates  in  that 
contest  were  sustained  upon  a 
contrary  principle.  The  con- 
struction given  to  the  Federal 
Constitution,  by  which  Congress 
was  deemed  to  be  empowered  to 
protect  domestic  manufactures,  to 
appropriate  moneys  for  works  of 
internal  improvement,  to  create 
a  United  States  Bank,  and  gene- 
rally to  regulate  and  control  all 
affairs  strictly  national,  had  be- 
come the  settled  policy  of  the 
country.  Strong  objections  were 
still  urged  to  this  construction,  by 
the  Representatives  from  the 
Southern  States,  and  by  some  of 
the  leading  friends  of  Mr  Craw- 
ford in  other  sectio  is  of  the  Union. 
But  it  had  been  toa  long  and  too 
generally  acquiesced  in  to  permit 
the  hope  of  a  successful  appeal  to 
public  opinion  in  behalf  of  can- 


didates offered  upon  principles  of 
opposition  to  that  construction. 
All  the  candidates  consequently 
were  understood  to  be  in  favor  of 
that  construction.  Mr  Calhoun 
was  an  early  and  ardent  advocate 
of  that  principle,  and  had  efficient- 
ly contributed  when  in  Congress 
and  also  while  in  the  Cabinet  to 
the  adoption  of  the  principal 
measures,  which  had  provoked 
the  hostility  of  those  who  con- 
tended for  a  literal  construction  of 
the  constitution.  Mr  Clay  had 
long  been  distinguished  as  the  elo- 
quent and  uncompromising  sup- 
porter of  the  American  System, 
a  system  whose  characteristic  fea- 
tures were  the  protection  of  do- 
mestic industry  and  a  liberal  ap- 
plication of  the  public  treasure  to 
purposes  of  internal  improvement. 
Mr  Adams  at  an  early  period  of 
his  political  life  had  manifested 
his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  in- 
ternal improvement,  and  he  made 
no  secret  of  his  opinions  concern- 
ing the  powers  of  Congress  in  all 
matters  of  national  concern.  — 
General  Jackson  had  not  occupied 
so  conspicuous  a  station  in  politi- 
cal life  ;  but  Vvhile  in  the  United 
States  Senate  he  had  been  no  less 
decided  in  his  opinions  on  the 
long  disputed  question  as  to  the 
constructive  powers  of  Congress. 
During  this  short  term  of  service 
the  follow^ing  bills  providing  f)r 
internal  improvement  came  under 
consideration  :  1st.  A  Bill  author- 
izing a  road  from  Memphis  in  Ten- 
nessee to  Little  Rock  in  Arkansas. 
2d.  A  Bill  for  making  certain  roads 
in  Florida.  3d.  A  Bill  to  pro- 
cure necessary  surveys  for  roads 
and  canals.  4th.  A  Bill  to  im- 
prove the  navigation  of  the  Mis- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION. 


11 


sissippi,  Ohio  and  Missouri.  5th. 
A  Bill  for  making  a  road  in  Mis- 
souri. 6th.  A  Bill  to  subscribe 
to  the  stock  in  the  Chesapeake 
and  Delaware  Canal  Company. 
7th.  A  Bill  to  extend  the 
Cumberland  road  to  Zanesville. 
8th.  A  Bill  authorizing  a  subscrip- 
tion to  the  Portland  and  Louis- 
ville Canal  Company.  On  the 
passage  of  all  these  bills,  General 
Jackson's  name  was  recorded  in 
the  affirmative  ;  and  his  vote  in  fa- 
vor of  the  tariff  of  1824,  a  tariff 
which  was  founded  on  the  princi- 
ple of  protection,  afforded  suffi- 
cient evidence  that  his  opinions 
accorded  rather  with  those  of  Mr 
Adams,  Clay  and  Calhoun,  than 
with  those  of  the  supporters  of 
Mr  Crawford. 

In  the  presidential  contest  of 
1824,  therefore,  the  friends  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  stood 
alone  in  tiie  attitude  of  opposition 
to  the  established  policy  of  the 
country.  The  supporters  of  the 
other  candidates  indeed  had  their 
personal  preferences,  but  in  point 
of  principle  there  was  no  essen- 
tial difference  between  them.  At 
an  early  period  of  the  canvass  the 
Secretary  of  War  (Mr  Calhoun) 
was  withdrawn  by  his  friends  in 
Pennsylvania,  who,  yielding  to 
the  popular  feeling  of  the  State, 
fell  in  to  the  support  of  General 
Jackson.  This  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  his  adherents  throughout 
the  Union,  with  some  few  excep- 
tions, and  they  mainly  contributed 
to  the  sudden  and  rapid  augmen- 
tation of  the  strength  of  General 
Jackson  during  that  canvass. 

In  this  transfer  of  support,  how- 
ever, no  sacrifice  of  principle  was 
supposed  to  have  been  made.  It 


was  merely  relinquishing  a  per- 
sonal preference  under  the  pres- 
sure of  circumstances,  and  the 
election  of  General  Jackson,  equal- 
ly with  that  of  Mr  Adams,  would 
then  have  been  regarded  as  a 
pledge  to  the  country  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  policy  of  the  pre- 
ceding administration.  Mr  Clay's 
principles  were  similar ;  but  from 
the  ardor  of  his  character,  his 
fearless  disregard  of  consequen- 
ces and  his  avowed  opinions  in 
behalf  of  the  American  System, 
and  on  the  subject  of  South 
American  independence,  appre- 
hensions were  entertained  that  he 
would  not  sacrifice  enough  to  ex- 
pediency, but  would  follow  those 
opinions  out  to  their  legitimate 
consequences.  Hence  it  was  ob- 
vious that  no  sacrifice  of  principle 
was  involved  in  the  support,  in- 
differently, of  any  of  these  can- 
didates who  stood  on  a  common 
ground  of  policy.  Mr  Crawford 
alone  was  supported  upon  oppo- 
site principles,  and  as  it  was  mani- 
fest that  ill  such  a  contest  his 
weakness  would  be  evinced,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  represent 
him  as  the  only  orthodox  repub- 
lican candidate,  and  to  nominate 
him  as  such  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
nation  through  a  caucus  of  the 
members  of  Congress  assembled 
at  Washington.  The  attempt  to- 
tally failed.  It  was  regarded  by 
a  great  majority  of  the  people  as 
an  unauthorized  interference  with 
their  constitutional  privileges,  and 
it  terminated  in  the  caucus  can- 
didate's being  brought  by  the  votes 
of  Virginia  and  Georgia  and  a 
few  scattered  votes  from  New 
York  and  Delaware,  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  as  the 


12 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


lowest  of  the  three  candidates, 
iVom  which  the  President  was  to 
be  chosen.  Here  the  choice  fell 
upon  Mr  Adams,  and  from  the 
moment  of  his  election  the  parti- 
'fan^  of  t!ie  unsuccessful  candi- 
tlates  united  in  opposition,  either 
avowed  or  secret,  to  his  adminis- 
tration. Tiiose  wiio  had  ori,2:i- 
I'ally  advocated  the  claims  of 
General  Jackson  found  a  sufficient 
jnotive  to  opj)Osition  in  the  defeat 
of  their  favorite,  whose  election 
they  asserted  was  dem.anded  hy 
tlie  people.  Tiiat  reason  howev- 
er could  not  he  urged  hy  the 
iViends  of  the  caucus  candidate, 
who  had  been  zealously  sustained 
to  the  last,  in  spite  of  ill  health, 
although  the  result  in  the  electoral 
colleges  had  demonstrated  that 
ho  had  but  a  slight  hold  upon  the 
public  favor.  Indeed  the  entire 
failure  of  this  party  in  their  elec- 
tion plainly  indicated  the  unpopu- 
larity of  its  political  creed,  and  at 
the  commencement  of  Mr  Ad- 
rms'  administration  it  held  itself 
aloof  and  apparently  uncommitted 
as  to  its  future  course.  The  can- 
didate who  was  boldly  taken  up 
as  the  opposition  candidate,  had 
evinced  as  latitudinarian  senti- 
ments concerning  the  povvers  of 
Congress  as  his  successful  rival, 
and  to  come  in  to  his  support 
would  be  to  abjure  those  political 
doctrines  which  were  deemed  so 
essential  to  the  independence  of 
the  States. 

The  political  principles  of  the 
party  already  organized,  therefore, 
were  as  heterodox  as  those  of  the 
existing  Cabinet,  and  any  combi- 
nation uhich  might  take  place 
must  be  founded  upon  the  sacri- 
fice of  principle  by  one  of  the 


sections  of  the  opposition.  This 
discordance  in  its  materials  pre- 
vented any  harmonious  concert  of 
action  at  the  first  session  of  the 
nineteenth  Congress  ;  but  during 
the  vacation  and  the  succeeding 
session,  great  efTorls  vvere  made 
to  promote  a  closer  union  between 
the  different  sections  of  the  oppo- 
sition, and  before  the  adjournment 
it  had  assumed  a  consistent  shape. 
The  first  public  intimation  of  this 
imion  was  given  by  a  leading  op- 
position member  from  Virginia, 
who  shortly  before  the  close  of 
the  second  session  of  the  19th 
Congi'css,  announced,  that  the 
combinations  for  effecting  the 
election  of  General  Jackson  vvere 
nearly  completed.  Shortly  be- 
fore this  public  declaration,  an 
intimation  almost  equally  distinct 
of  future  opposition,  was  given  by 
one  of  the  most  prominent  lead- 
ers of  the  caucus  party  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  expressing  his  acknow- 
ledgments for  his  re-election  to 
tl)e  federal  Senate.  In  this  letter 
lie  promises  zealously  to  exert 
himself  to  protect  the  remaining 
rights  reserved  to  the  States  and 
to  restore  those  of  which  they 
had  been  divested  by  construc- 
tion. 

Other  indications,  which  could 
not  be  mistaken,  were  given  of 
the  intention  of  the  caucus  party 
to  join  the  opposition,  and  that  one 
of  the  main  grounds  of  opposi- 
tion would  be,  that  certain  povvers 
which  the  Federal  Government 
had  habitually  exercised  were 
unauthorized  by  the  Constitution 
and  that  they  ought  no  longer 
to  be  submitted  to.  It  had  been 
u  favorite  doctrine  of  the  Virginia 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION. 


13 


school  of  politics,  that  the  powers 
of  the  General  Government  had 
been  extended  beyond  their  con- 
stitutional limits,  and  the  dispute 
between  the  federal  authorities 
and  those  of  Georgia  in  relation 
to  the  Creek  treaty,  had  rendered 
it  convenient  for  that  State  to  con- 
tend most  earnestly  for  the  same 
construction  of  the  Constitution. 
A  most  intimate  connexion  had 
been  cultivated  between  the  politi- 
cians of  this  school  and  the  lead- 
ing supporters  of  Mr  Crawford  in 
New  York,  who  inclined  to  the 
same  construction  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  who  were  not  much 
behind  their  southern  coadjutors 
in  declaring  their  determination  to 
favor  the  election  of  General 
Jackson.  This  determination  of 
the  opposition  to  combine  in  his 
support,  induced  much  specula- 
tion as  to  the  nature  of  the  pledges, 
which  w^ere  said  to  have  been 
given  as  to  his  political  course,  and 
it  was  boldly  predicted,  that  an 
opposition  so  constituted,  could 
not  continue  united  after  the  go- 
vernment should  fall  into  its  hands, 
without  a  complete  sacrifice  of 
principle  by  one  of  the  sections 
of  the  combined  party. 

The  President  would  of  course 
be  compelled  to  adopt  the  literal 
construction  of  the  Constitution 
or  to  pursue  the  policy  marked 
out  by  his  predecessors.  During 
the  pendency  of  the  election,  tlie 
public  might  be  left  in  doubt. 
Such  as  were  inclined  to  promote 
his  elevation  in  the  north  and 
west  could  justify  their  preference, 
by  appealing  to  his  votes  when 
in  the  Senate  in  favor  of  the 
Tariff  and  Internal  improvement, 
while  his  supporters  in  the  South 


could  be  equally  zealous,  either 
relying  upon  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  his  opinions,  or 
upon  those  measures  which  his 
character  as  a  candidate,  sustained 
upon  the  principle  of  reform, 
should  compel  him  to  adopt  in 
case  of  success.  But  after  his 
inauguration  he  must  decide  be- 
tween these  conflicting  preten- 
sions, and  this  decision  would 
compel  those  to  whom  that  deci- 
sion should  prove  unpalatable  to 
decide  in  their  turn  between 
the  abandonment  of  their  polit- 
ical party  or  their  principles. 
This  very  position  properly  view- 
ed was  but  another  of  the  fortu- 
nate circumstances  in  which  the 
successful  competitor  for  the  Chief 
Magistracy  found  himself  placed 
at  the  time  of  his  elevation. 
Chosen  by  an  unparalleled  ma- 
jority of  the  electoral  votes,  he 
owed  his  success  to  his  own  popu- 
larity. Generally  sanctioning  the 
policy  under  which  our  na- 
tional institutions  had  been  buiJt 
up,  he  was  at  liberty  to  review 
his  opinions  and  to  establish  them 
upon  incontrovertible  and  immu- 
table grounds.  His  admiaistra 
tion  was  not  bound  to  persist  in 
any  particular  measi.'res  which 
experience  had  proved  to  be  in- 
expedient; but  claiming  as  it  did 
to  be  constituted  upon  the  basis 
of  reform,  it  vvas  able  to  modify 
the  existing  policy,  and  to  carry 
out  its  principles  under  all  the 
advantages  oflered  by  the  hghts 
of  experience  and  the  develop- 
ment of  public  opinion.  Equally 
uncommitted  was  he  respecting 
the  parties,  which  had  formerly 
distracted  the  country.  His  ad- 
vice to  Mr  Monroe  in  1816  to 


14 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


di.-card  all  pr:rty  feelings,  nnd  to 
icmember,  tlrdt  as  Cliief  Magis- 
trate be  acted  for  the  whole,  and 
not  for  apart  of  the  comiruinity, 
—  sentiments  which  did  equal 
honor  to  bis  bead  an{l  his  heart, 
and  wbicli  he  reiterated  as  his 
settled  opinion  in  1824,  left  bim 
free  to  call  to  bis  councils  the 
ablast  and  most  virtuous  men  of 
the  nation,  without  regard  to  the 
party  denominntions  by  whicli  they 
bad  been  previously  distinguished. 
Under  these  fortunate  circum- 
stances GenerulJackson  assumed 
the  Executive  GoverniTicnt  on  the 
fourth  of  March,  1829,  with  a 
stu'plus  of  more  thnn  five  millions 
of  dollars  in  the  national  treasury, 
the  cc'jntry  respected  abroad,  at 
peace  v/ith  all  the  world,  and  m 
a  state  of  unexnmpled  and  pro- 
gressive domestic  prosperity. 

After  taking  the  oath  of  office 
he  delivered  according  to  the 
custom  of  his  predecessors  an 
inaugural  address  setting  forth  the 
principles  upon  which  be  intended 
to  administer  the  government. 
That  address  is  as  follows  :  — 
# 

'  Fellow  Citizens  :  About  to 
undertake  the  arduous  duties  that 
1  have  been  appointed  to  perform, 
by  the  choice  of  a  free  people,  I 
avail  mysetf  <Df  this  customary 
and  solemn  occasion  to  express 
the  gratitude  whicU  their  confi- 
dence inspires,  and  \o  acknow- 
ledge the  accountability  which  my 
shuation  enjoins.  While  the  mag- 
nitude of  their  interests  convinces 
me  tijnt  no  thanks  can  be  adequate 
to  the  honor  they  have  conferred, 
it  admonishes  me  that  the  best 
return  I  can  make,  is  the  zealous 
dedicat'on  of  my  humble  abilities 


to  their  service  and  their  good. 
As  \he  instrument  of  the  Fede- 
ral Constitution,  it  will  devolve  on 
me,  for  a  stated  period,  to  execute 
the  lav/s  of  the  United  States ; 
to  superintend  their  foreign  and 
their  confederate  relations;  to 
manage  their  revenue ;  to  com- 
mand their  forces ;  and,  by 
communications  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, to  watch  over,  and  to  pro- 
mote their  interests  generally. 
And  the  principles  of  action  by 
which  I  shall  endeavor  to  accom- 
plish this  circle  of  duties,  it  is 
now  proper  for  me  briefly  to  ex- 
plain. 

'  ]n  administering  the  laws  of 
Congress,  I  shall  keep  steadily  in 
view  the  limitations  as  well  as  the 
extent  of  the  Executive  power, 
trusting  thereby  to  discbarge  the 
functions  of  my  office,  without 
transcending  its  authority.  With 
foreign  nations  it  will  be  my  study 
to  preserve  peace,  and  to  cultivate, 
friendship,  on  fair  and  honorable 
terms  ;  and  in  the  adjustment  of 
any  differences  that  may  exist  or 
arise,  to  exhibit  the  forbearance 
becoming  a  powerful  nation,  rath- 
er than  the  sensibility  belonging  to 
a  gallant  people. 

'  In  such  measures  as  I  may  be 
called  on  to  pursue,  in  regard  to 
the  rights  of  the  separate  States, 
1  hope  to  be  animated  by  a  pro- 
per respect  for  those  sovereign 
members  of  our  Union  ;  taking 
cure  not  to  confound  the  powers 
they  have  reserved  to  themselves 
with  those  they  have  granted  to 
the  confederacy. 

'  The  management  of  the  public 
revenue  —  that  searching  opera- 
tion in  all  Governments  —  is 
among  the  most  delicate  and  im- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION- 


15 


portant  trusts  in  ours ;  and  it 
will,  of  course,  demand  no  in- 
considerable share  of  my  official 
soliciiude.  Under  every  aspect 
in  which  it  can  be  corsidcre:!,  it 
would  appear  that  advantage  must 
result  from  the  observance  of  a 
strict  and  faithful  economy.  This 
1  shall  aim  at  the  more  anxiously, 
both  because  it  will  facilitate  the 
extinguishment  of  the  National 
Debt  —  the  unnecessary  duration 
of  which  is  incompatible  with  real 
independence  —  and  because  it 
will  counteract  that  tendency  to 
public  and  private  profligacy 
which  a  profuse  expenditure  of 
money  by  the  Government  is  but 
too  apt  to  engender.  Powerful 
auxiliaries  to  the  attainment  of 
this  desirable  end,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  regulations  provided  by  the 
wisdom  of  Congress,  for  the  spe- 
cific appropriation  of  public  money 
and  the  prompt  accountability  of 
public  officers. 

'  With  regard  to  aproper  selec- 
tion of  the  subjects  of  impost, 
with  a  view  to  revenue,  is  would 
seem  to  me  that  the  spirit  of  equi- 
ty, caution,  and  cornpromise,  in 
which  the  Constitution  was  form- 
ed, requires  that  the  great  inter- 
ests of  agriculture,  commerce, 
and  manufactures,  should  be 
equally  favored ;  and  that,  per- 
haps, the  only  exception  to  this 
rule  should  consist  in  the  peculiar 
encouragement  of  any  products 
of  either  of  them  that  may  be 
found  essential  to  our  national  in- 
dependence. 

'Internal  Improvement,  and  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  far  as 
they  can  be  promoted  by  the 
constitutional  acts  of  the  Federal 
Government,  are  of  high  impor- 
tance. 


*  Considering  standing  armies  as 
dangerous  to  free  governments, 
in  time  of  peace,  I  shall  not  seek 
to  enlarge  our  present  establish- 
ment, nor  disregard  that  salutary 
lesson  of  political  experience, 
which  teaches  that  the  military 
should  be  held  subordinate  to  the 
civil  power.  The  gradual  in- 
crease of  our  Navy,  whose  flag 
has  displayed,  in  distant  climes, 
our  skill  in  navigation,  and  our 
fame  in  arms ;  the  preservation 
of  our  forts,  arsenals,  and  dock 
yards,  and  the  introduction  of 
progressive  improvements  in  the 
discipline  and  science  of  both 
branches  of  our  military  service, 
are  so  plainly  prescribed  by  pru- 
dence, that  I  should  be  excused 
for  omitting  their  mention,  sooner 
than  for  enlarging  on  their  impor- 
tance. But  the  bulwark  of  our 
defence  is  the  national  militia, 
which,  in  the  present  state  of  our 
intelligence  and  population,  must 
render  us  invincible.  As  long  as 
our  government  is  administered 
for  the  good  of  the  people,  and 
is  regulated  by  their  will ;  as  long 
as  it  secures  to  us  the  rights  of 
person  and  of  property,  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  of  the  press,  it 
will  be  worth  defending  ;  and  so 
long  as  it  is  worth  defending,  a 
patriotic  militia  will  cover  it  with 
an  impenetrable  agis.  Partial 
injuries,  and  occasional  mortifica- 
tions, we  may  be  subjected  to,  but 
a  million  of  armed  freemen,  pos- 
sessed of  the  means  of  war,  can 
never  be  conquered  by  a  foreign 
foe.  To  any  just  system.,  there- 
fore, calculated  to  strengthen  this 
natural  safeguard  of  the  country, 
J  shall  cheerfully  lend  all  the  aid 
in  my  power. 
*  It  will  be  mv  sincere  and  con- 


16 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


slant  desire  to  observe  towards  the 
Indian  tribes  within  our  limits,  a 
just  and  liberal  policy  ;  and  to  give 
that  humane  and  considerate  at- 
tention to  their  rights  and  their 
wants,  which  are  consistent  with 
the  habits  of  our  government,  and 
the  feelings  of  our  people. 

'  The  recent  demonstration  of 
public  sentiment  inscribes,  on  the 
list  of  Executive  duties,  in  char- 
acters too  legible  to  be  overlooked, 
the  task  of  reform ;  which  will 
require,  particularly,  the  correc- 
tion of  those  abuses  that  have 
brought  the  patronage  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  into  conflict 
with  the  fredom  of  elections,  and 
the  counteraction  of  those  causes 
which  have  disturbed  the  rightful 
course  of  appointment,  and  have 
placed,  or  continued  povi^er  in, 
unfaithful  or  incompetent  hands. 

*  In  the  performance  of  a  task 
thus  generally  delineated,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  select  men  whose  dil- 
igence and  talents  will  insure,  in 
their  respective  stations,  able  and 
faithful  co-operation,  depending 
for  the  advancement  of  the  public 
service,  more  on  the  integrity  and 
zeal  of  the  pubhc  officers,  than 
on  their  numbers. 

'  A  diffidence,  perhaps  too  just, 
in  my  own  qualifications,  will 
teach  me  to  look  with  reverence  to 
the  examples  of  public  virtue 
left  by  my  illustrious  predecessors, 
and  with  veneration  to  the  lights 
that  flow  from  the  mind  that 
founded,  and  the  mind  that  re- 
formed, our  system.  The  same 
diffidence  induces  me  to  hope  for 
instruction  and  aid  from  the  co- 
ordinate branches  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  for  the  indulgence 
and  support  of  my  fellow  citizens 


generally.  And  a  firm  reliance 
on  the  goodness  of  that  Power 
whose  providence  mercifully  prb- 
tected  our  national  infancy,  and 
has  since  upheld  our  liberties  in 
various  vicissitudes,  encourages 
me  to  offer  up  my  ardent  supph- 
cations  that  he  will  continue  to 
make  our  beloved  country  the 
object  of  his  divine  care  and 
gracious  benediction.' 

The  Senate,  which  had  been 
summoned  by  his  predecessor 
(Mr  Adams)  to  meet  on  the 
fourth  of  March,  after  attending 
the  inauguration,  adjourned  to  the 
next  day  for  the  purpose  of  trans- 
acUng  such  business  as  might  be 
laid  before  it.  In  selecting  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet,  General 
Jackson  was  compelled  to  afford 
some  indications  as  to  his  future 
course,  and  no  small  anxiety  was 
evinced  to  discover  upon  whom 
his  choice  might  fall.  So  much 
had  been  said  as  to  the  ability  of 
the  confidential  advisers  he  would 
call  around  him,  and  so  many 
men  of  undoubted  talents  were 
to  be  found  am.ong  his  supporters, 
that  it  was  generally  anticipated, 
that  his  Cabinet  would  not  be  in- 
ferior to  the  ablest  of  his  prede- 
cessors. All  speculations,  how- 
ever, were  now  to  be  brought  to 
the  test  of  fact,  and  the  political 
character  of  his  Cabinet  as  well 
as  the  talent  and  experience  of 
his  future  advisers  were  no  longer 
matter  of  doubt,  when  the  follow- 
ing names  were  nominated  to  the 
Senate  — 

Martin  Van  Buren,  Secre- 
tary of  State. 

Sam'l.  D.  Ingham,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury. 


REFORM. 


17 


John  H.  Eaton,  Secretary  of 
Whf. 

John  Branch,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy. 

John  McPherson  Berrien, 
Attorney  General. 

The  Secretary  of  State  had 
been  a  leading  supporter  of  Mr 
Crawford,  and  liad  been  distin- 
£;uis!)ed  among  that  class  of  poli- 
ticians, both  for  activity  and  con- 
troliing  influence.  After  he  had 
determined  upon  supporting  the 
ejection  of  General  Jackson,  he 
was  equally  efficient  in  promoting 
his  views,  and  from  his  political 
influence  and  services,  as  well  as 
on  account  of  the  importance  and 
power  of  the  State  to  which  he 
belonged,  it  v/as  generally  expect- 
ed, that  his  claims  would  not  be 
overlooked  in  the  formation  of 
the  Cabinet. 

Mr  Van  Buren  v/as  a  self-made 
man,  and  had  by  perseverance  and 
the  exercise  of  no  ordinary  talents, 
combined  with  great  tact  and  self- 
possession,  raised  himself  to  a  high 
rank  among  the  public  men  of  the 
country.  The  evidence  of  his 
qualifications  for  this  station  was 
found  rather  in  his  skill  as  a 
political  leader,  than  in  his  attain- 
ments as  a  stateman,  or  in  the 
exhibition  of  profound  and  enlarg- 
ed views  of  nalional  policy.  For 
his  advancem.ent  in  public  life  he 
had  depended  upon  the  discipline 
of  party,  in  concentrating  the  suf- 
frages of  the  many  by  the  skilful 
management  of  a  lew,  rather  than 
upon  the  development  of  bold  and 
compreliensive  schemes  of  policy, 
or  by  the  frank  exposition  of  his 
views  concerning  the  Constitution 
and  the  questions  which  agitated 
the  country.    The  Attorney  Ge- 


eral,  unlike  his  coadjutor,  had  not 
always  belonged  to  the  school  of 
politicians  contending  for  a  strict 
construction  of  the  Constitution, 
He  however  possessed  more  vari- 
ed attainments  and  was  fully  quali- 
fied by  his  learning  and  eloquence 
for  the  station  to  which  he  was 
elevated. 

The  other  members  of  the  Ca- 
binet had  not  been  particularly 
distinguished  either  for  their  public 
services  or  talents.  Mr  Eaton 
was  indebted  for  his  elevation 
solely  to  the  friendship  of  the 
President  and  to  the  confidential 
relations  subsisting  between  them  : 
Mr  Jngham  was  selected  through 
the  influence  of  the  Vice  Prestdent 
and  because  he  had  been  an  active 
pai  tisan  in  Pennsvlvania,the  State 
which  brought  Gnieral  Jackson 
forward  as  a  candidate,  and  to 
whose  support  he  owed  his  suc- 
cess :  the  public  in  vain  sought 
for  the  reason  which  influenced 
the  choice  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  a  general  opinion  pre- 
vailed, that  in  the  selection  of  his 
confidential  advisers  the  President 
had  not  gratified  the  expectations 
of  the  country.  Either  from  a 
conviction  of  this  fact  or  from  a 
desire  to  impart  to  the  Post  Office 
department  greater  political  effi- 
ciency, it  was  determined  to  intro- 
duce the  Post-master  General  into 
the  Cabinet.  The  old  Post-master 
General  (John  McLean)  had  re- 
fused to  make  his  department  an 
engine  to  subserve  party  purposes, 
and  it  was  deemed  necessary  to 
remove  him  to  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  to  fill  his 
place  with  William  T.  Barry,  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  relief  party 
in  Kentucky. 
The  Cabinet  was  now  constitut- 


18 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ed,  and  after  confirming  the  nom- 
ination of  some  active  partisans  to 
diplomatic  posts  and  to  lucrative 
stations  in  the  land  office,  custom 
house  and  navy,  the  Senate  ad- 
journed on  the  17th  of  March, 
the  Executive  having  informed 
that  body  that  he  had  no  further 
business  to  lay  before  it.  The 
promised  work  of  reform  now 
commenced  in  good  earnest.  Be- 
fore the  inauguration,  the  capital 
had  been  thronged  with  political 
partisans  chiefly  from  the  Eastern, 
Western,  and  Middle  States,  all 
clamorous  for  some  reward  for 
their  electioneering  services  du- 
ring the  canvass.  It  had  been 
distinctly  avowed  by  the  most 
prominent  organs  of  the  success- 
ful party,  that  the  President  would 
be  m-ged  to  reward  his  friends  and 
punish  his  enemies  ;  it  was  expect- 
ed that  he  would  make  a  prompt 
and  general  removal  of  his  op- 
ponents from  office,  and  by  the 
appointment  of  his  friends  secure 
the  ascendency  of  his  party.  This 
expectation  was  not  destined  to 
the  disappointment  which  attend- 
ed that  concerning  the  character 
of  his  Cabinet.  Scarcely  had  the 
Senate  adjourned,  when  a  gene- 
ral system  of  removal  from  office 
was  entered  upon  with  the  view 
of  rewarding  those  political  par- 
tisans who  had  been  instrumen- 
tal in  promoting  his  election. 
Never    before  had   so  total  a 


change  been  made  in  the  public 
offices.  Formerly  it  had  been 
confined  to  those  prominent 
places,  which  constitute  the  stakes 
for  which  the  game  of  politics  is 
so  often  played.  The  revolution 
extended  farther  now,  and  men 
too  humble  to  be  claimed  by  any 
party,  were  removed  from  situa- 
tions upon  which  they  depended 
for  a  livelihood  to  make  room  for 
a  set  of  clamorous  partisans. 
Availing  himself  of  the  right  of 
the  Executive  to  fill  vacancies 
occrruing  in  the  recess,  the  Presi- 
dent shortly  after  the  adjournment 
of  the  Senate,  rem.oved  the  princi- 
pal officers  of  the  treasury,  the 
Marshals  and  District  Attorneys  in 
most  of  the  Eastern,  Middle  and 
Western  States,  the  revenue  offi- 
cers of  the  chief  Atlantic  ports, 
the  greater  part  of  the  receivers 
and  registers  in  the  land  office 
and  effected  an  equally  radi- 
cal change  in  the  diplomatic 
corps.* 

As  these  removals  w^ere  invaria- 
bly made  to  make  room  for  politi- 
cal adherents  ;  and  as  with  some 
exceptions  no  act  of  official  delin- 
quency was  proved  against  the 
former  incumbents,  the  conduct  of 
the  Executive  was  subjected  to 
severe  animadversions.  He  was 
charged  with  usurping  an  authority 
not  conferred  by  the  Constitution, 
which  it  was  contended  only  gave 
him  the  right  to  fill  vacancies  either 


*Appointments  made  during  the  reces:?.  —  Ministers  plenipotentiary  to  Great  Brit- 
ain, France,  Netherlands,  Spain :  Char2;e  d'Affairs — Mexico,  Peru:  Secretariesof 
Legation  —  Great  Britain,  France,  Netherlands,  Colombia  :  Marshals  and  District 
Attorneys,  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  New  Jersey,  Louisiana,  Kentucky, Virginia, 
Tennessee,  and  Missouri :  District  Attorneys  —  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  Virginia,  Alabama,  Indiana,  Florida:  Collectors,  Purveyors,  Naval  Officers 
and  Appraisers — Maine  3,  New  Hampshire  1,  ]Massachusetts  9, Vermont  1,  Connec- 
ticut J,  New  York  11,  New  Jersey  1 ,  Pennsylvania  2, Delaware  1 ,  Maryland 3, 
District  of  Columbia  2,  Virginia  1,  North  Carolina  2,  Louisiana  4,  Western  States 
and  territories  6  :  Receivers  and  Registers  ia  Western  land  offices  26  :  Consuls  21 : 
In  the  Departments  at  Washington  46. 


REFORM. 


19^ 


accidentally  occurring,  or  caused 
by  some  official  misconduct;  and 
even  if  acting  within  the  limits  of 
his  constitutional  prerogative,  it 
was  a  proscription  for  opinion's 
sake  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our 
institutions  and  without  a  preced- 
ent in  the  history  of  the  country.* 
The  officers  removed  were  expe- 
rienced and  faithful,  and  much 
was  justly  and  forcibly  urged 
against  making  the  public  offices 
the  prize  of  party  contests,  and 
thus  augmenting  party  violence 
and  stimulating  the  cupidity  of 
political  adventurers  by  rewards 
distributed  without  any  criterion, 
except  the  unscrupulous  manner 
in  which  the  candidates  had  pro- 
moted the  views  of  their  party. 
On  the  other  hand  it  was  contend- 
ed, that  the  Executive  was  solely 
invested  with  the  right  of  remov- 
al, that  it  was  a  discretionary  right, 
for  the  exercise  of  which  he  was 
responsible  solely  to  the  nation, 
that  that  power  was  given  to  ena- 
ble him  not  only  to  remove  in- 
cumbents for  delinquency  or  inca- 
pacity, but  with  the  view  of 
reforming  the  administration  of 
the  government  and  introducing 
officers  of  greater  efficiency  or 
sounder  principles  into  its  various 
departments.  Occasion  was  also 
taken,  owing  to  the  defalcation  of 
a  few  of  those  removed,  to  assert 
the  necessity  of  reform,  and  un- 


sparing efforts  were  made  to  cre- 
ate an  impression  on  the  public 
mind  of  the  necessity  of  a  gener- 
al removal  of  the  officers  of  the 
Federal  Government. 

Some  abuses  no  doubt  existed, 
and  one  instance  of  fraud  and  de- 
falcation on  the  part  of  an  auditor 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  late 
administration,  gave  a  temporary 
popularity  to  this  policy ;  but 
when  it  was  discovered,  after  a 
vigorous  scrutiny,  that  defalcations 
to  the  amount  of  a  few  thousand 
dollars  only  were  detected,  and 
that  in  no  instance  were  these  fas- 
tened upon  officers  appointed  by 
the  immediate  predecessor  of 
General  Jackson,  a  reaction  took 
place  in  the  public  feeling,  and 
doubts  began  to  arise,  whether 
the  country  might  not  lose  as  much 
by  the  inexperience  of  the  new 
officers,  whose  fidelity  was  yet  to 
be  subjected  to  the  test  of  experi- 
ence, as  by  the  defalcations  of 
some  of  the  old.  A  still  heavier 
and  better  founded  objection  to 
this  reform  was  found  in  the  private 
character  of  some  of  the  new  in- 
cumbents; and  the  Senate  was 
called  upon  to  rescue  the  country 
from  the  disgrace  of  having  its 
business  committed  to  men,  whose 
conduct  had  awakened  alike  the 
indignation  of  the  community  and 
the  censure  of  its  laws. 

This  manner  of  distributing  the 


*  Durins;  General  Waslilngton's  Administration  of  eight  years,  there  were  nine  re- 
movals; of  these  one  was  a  defaulter. 

In  John  Adams'  Administration  of  four  years,  there  were  ten  removals ;  one  of 
these  was  a  defaulter. 

In  Thomas  Jefferson's  of  eight  years,  there  were  thirlynine. 

In  James  Madison's  of  eight  years,  there  were  five  removals;  of  which  three 
were  defaulters. 

In  James  Monroe's  of  eight  years,  there  were  nine  removals.  Of  these  one  was 
for  dealing  in  slaves  (Guinea,)  two  for  failures,  one  for  insanity,  one  for  misconduct, 
and  one  for  quarrels  with  a  foreign  Government. 

In  John  ^uincy  Adams',  there  were  two  removals  ;  both  for  cause. 


20 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


periodical  press,  and  wlien  sys- 
tematized it  would  directly  tend 
to  augment  the  violence  of  party 
disputes  and  to  corrupt  the  foun- 
tain of  political  intelligence,  by 
holding  up  public  office  to  editors 
as  a  reward  for  electioneering 
services. 

The  general  change  which  took 
place  in  the  Post  Office  depart- 
ment gave  additional  dissatisfac- 
tion to  the  moderate  men  of  the 
country.  Under  ihe  superintend- 
ence of  Mr  McLean  this  depart- 
ment had  been  distinguished  for 
its  efficiency  and  order,  and  as  its 
functions  operated  directly  upon 
the  private  business  of  individuals, 
that  officer  had  acquired  great 
and  deserved  popularity  fj'om  the 
manner  in  which  its  duties  were 
discharged.  He  had  himself  been 
favorable  to  the  election  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  and  his  continuance 
in  an  office  of  so  much  influence 
and  patronage  had  been  deemed 
an  instance  of  magnanimity  on  the 
pa/t  of  Mr  Adams,  and  a  proof 
of  his  determination  not  to  use 
the  patronage  of  the  government 
for  parly  purposes. 

The  removal  of  that  officer  and 
the  introduction  of  his  successor 
into  the  Cabinet  were  regarded 
as  indications  of  ,an  intention  to 
introduce  the  same  proscriptive 
system  into  the  Post  Office,  and 
the  numerous  removals,  which 
took  place  shortly  after  liis  ap- 
pointment verified  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  community.*  In  this 
state  of  public  feeling  the  21st 
Congress  assembled,  and  it  was 
easily  foreseen  that  the  appoint- 

*  Py  the  report  of  the  Post-Master  General,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  Sen- 
ate, it  appeared  tli^t  he  had  removed  between  the  4th  of  March,  1829,  and  the  22d 
of  March,  1830,491  post-masters,  viz:  In  Maine  fifteen,  New  Hampshire  fiftyfive, 
Vermont  twentytwo,  Massachusetts  twentyei^ht,  Rhode  Island  three,  Connecticut 
twenty,  New  York  one  hundred  and  thirtyone,  New  Jersey  fourtejn,  Pcnn-^ylvania 


executive  patronage  was  also 
strongly  contrasted  with  the  pro- 
fessions of  GeneralJackson  shortly 
before  the  election.  He  had  then 
earnestly  inculcated  the  propriety 
of  a  Chief  Magistrate  acting  lor  the 
good  of  the  whole  and  not  a  part 
of  the  community,  and  devoting 
himself  to  exterminate  party  spirit ; 
and  among  the  most  reprehensible 
modes  of  bestowing  appointments, 
he  had  designated  that  of  confer- 
ring offices  on  members  of  Con- 
gress. He  regarded  this  as  aim- 
ing so  directly  at  the  independ- 
ence and  purity  of  the  legislature, 
that  he  proposed  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  prohibiting  the 
appointment  of  members  of  Con- 
gress to  any  office  except  judicial, 
during  the  term  for  which  they 
were  elected  and  two  years  there- 
after. It  was  therefore  cause  of 
just  and  general  surprise  to  find 
him  within  the  first  year  of  his  ad- 
ministration conferring  a  greater 
number  of  offices  upon  members 
of  Congress,  than  any  of  his  pre- 
decessors had  done  during  their 
whole  term  of  service. 

As  the  members  appointed  had 
been  actively  engaged  in  promo- 
ting his  election,  he  was  not  only 
accused  of  inconsistency,  but  of 
carrying  into  practice  that  system 
of  corruption  which  he  had  de- 
picted as  the  probable  conse- 
quence of  that  mode  of  bestow- 
ing offices. 

The  numerous  appointments 
bestowed  upon  editors  of  violent 
political  journals  were  also  severe- 
ly criticised.  It  was  denominated 
an  attempt  upon  the  purity  of  the 


REFORM. 


ments  made  during  the  recess 
were  destined  to  meet  with  oppo- 
sition, although  it  was  supposed 
that  the  decided  majority  of  the 
administration  party  in  the  Senate 
would  prevent  it  from  being  effec- 
tual. The  Senate  however  was 
not  at  once  put  to  the  test.  The 
President  allowed  a  month  to 
elapse  after  it  assembled,  before 
he  submitted  any  of  the  appoint- 
ments made  during  the  recess, 
and  more  than  two  months  of  the 
Session  had  expired  before  all 
those  appointments  were  submit- 
ted for  confirmation.  This  de- 
lay, which  was  attributed  to  the 
disagreement  that  already  prevail- 
ed between  the  friends  of  the 
Vice  President  and  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  although  it  tended 
to  consolidate  the  strength  of  the 
administration,  did  not  produce  a 
general  confirmation  of  the  ap- 
pointments. 

A  warm  opposition  was  in- 
stituted to  the  whole  course  of  the 
Executive  in  relation  to  removqjs 
—  1st,  on  the  ground  of  their  un- 
constitutionality, and  2d,  on  that 
of  inexpediency.   The  opposition 


failed  on  both  points  ;  and  on  the 
first  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
it  was  unsound  in  principle.  The 
expediency  of  the  reform  itself 
was  a  subject  of  greater  differ- 
ence of  opinion ;  and  whatever 
might  have  been  urged  on  the 
one  side  in  favor  of  rotation  in 
office  and  a  thorough  reformation 
of  abuses,  and  on  the  other  in  fa- 
vor of  the  experieiLce  of  the  old 
incumbents  and  against  deranging 
the  whole  business  and  policy  of 
the  Government  by  committing  it 
to  the  hands  of  new  and  untried 
agents,  it  could  not  be  disputed, 
that  the  President,  in  selecting 
the  successors  to  those  removed 
had  been  guided  by  personal  pre- 
dilections and  a  wish  to  reward 
electioneering  services,  rather 
than  by  a  regard  for  the  public 
good.  The  consequence  was, 
that  the  Senate  felt  itself  con- 
strained by  a  sense  of  public  duly 
to  reject  many  of  the  appoint- 
ments made  during  the  recesF, 
and  in  some  instances  the  vote  re- 
jecting them  was  so  large  as  to 
convey  a  strong  censure  upon  the 
selection  of  the  Presi('e  t,* 


thirtyfive,  Delaware  sixteen,  Maryland  fourteen,  District  of  Columbii  one,  Virginia 
.eight,  North  Carolina  four,  Georgia  two,  Alabama  two,  Mississippi  five,  Louisiana 
four,  Tennessee  twelve,  Kentucky  sixteen,  Ohio  tiftyone,  Indiana  nineteen,  Illinois 
three,  Missouri  seven,  Florida  one,  Arkansas  two,  and  Michigan  one. 

*Henry  Lee,  Consul  to  Algiers,  and  James  B.  Gardner,  Register  of  Land  Office, 
rejected  unanimously. 

John  P.  Decatur,  Collector  at  Portsmouth, 
Moses  Dawson,  Receiver  of  Public  Moneys, 
Samuel  Cushman,  District  Attorney  for  New  Hampshire, 
Isaac  H  11,  2d  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury, 
Samue\  Herricks,  District  Attorney  for  Ohio, 
Samuel  McRoberls,  District  Attorney  for  Illinois, 
Wharton  Rector,  Indian  Agent, 
M.  M.  Noah,  Surveyor  at  New  York, 

Samuel  Mc  Roberts  was  confirmed  upon  re-consideration,  aff.  24,  neg.  22,  and  W. 
Rector  and  M.  M.  Noah  were  again  re-nominated  to  the  Senate,  by  which  W.  R. 
was  again  rejected,  21  neg.  and  20  aff.  and  M.  M.  Noah  was  confirmed  by  the  cast- 
ing vote  of  the  Vice  President,  22  aff.  22  neg.  Holmes,  Marks  and  Tazewell,  who 
before  voted  in  the  negative  and  Hayne,  who  voted  in  the  affirmative;  being  absent. 
3 


Neg.  43. 

Aff.  1. 

'•  42. 

"  5. 

S6. 

'*  r 

"  33. 

"  is! 

"  23. 

22. 

"  21. 

20. 

"  23. 

"  21. 

"  25 

"  23. 

22  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 

The  removals  in  the  post  office   appointment  of  Mr  Ingham,  a  de- 
were  still  more  general,  and  when   voted  friend  of  the  Vice  Presi- 
to  these  were  added  the  changes    dent, to theTreasury  Department, 
made  from  time  to  time  in  those   the  influence  and  patronage  of 
offices,  where  the  commissions    which  were  much  more  direct 
expired,  they  constituted  a  reform   and  extensive  than  those  of  any 
which  could  scarcely  have  been   other  department  of  the  Govern- 
more  complete  had  a  revolution   ment.    The  other  members  of 
taken  place  in  the  government  it-   the  Cabinet  were  not  selected 
self,  instead  of  a  change  in  the   with  reference  to   the  views  of 
persons   administering  it.    The    either  of  the  competitors  for  the 
decided   manner  in  which   the   succession  to  the    Presidency  ; 
dominant  party  proceeded  to  ap-   but  upon  grounds  of  personal 
propriate  all  the  offices  of  honor   preference  on  the  part  of  the 
and  profit  under  the  government  President.    In  fact  the  whole  ad- 
of  the  United  States,  v/as  by  no   ministration  was  formed  as  the 
means  an  indication  of  any  bar-   organ  of  a  personal  party.  It 
monious  feeling  prevailing  among   was  not  the  representative  of  any 
its  leaders.    The  necessity  which    specific  principle,  nor  did  h  pro- 
liad  kept  its  different  sections  to-   fess  any  particular  system  of  na- 
gether  while  in  opposition,   no   tional  policy.    The  views  of  the 
longer  existed,  and  its  discordant   Secretary  of  State  and  of  the 
materials  began  to  obey   their   Secretary  of  the  Navy  concern- 
several  principles  of  action  and  to   ing  the  policy  and  powers  of  the 
range  themselves  under  the  stand-   General  Government,  had  not  har- 
ards  of  the  rival  chieftains,  who   monized  with  those  of  the  Secre- 
had,  by  combining,  achieved  the   taries  of  War  and  of  the  Treas- 
overthrow  of  the  late  administra-   ury.    The  Attorney  General  had 
tion.    Strong  and  incessant  ef-   belonged  to  the  old  federal  party, 
forts  had  been  made  from  the   and  the  new  Post-master  General 
commencement  of  the  adminis-   had  not  shown  that  his  political 
tration  by  the  respective  parti-   principles  necessarily  mchned  him 
sans  of  the  Vice  President  and   to  a  narrow  construction  of  the  pow- 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  di-   ers  of  the  Federal  Government, 
rect  the  Executive  patronage  to   Upon  the  whole,  however,  the 
the  aggrandizement  of  their  own   Cabinet  was  formed  with  an  ap- 
friends.    A  division  of  the  party   parent  preference  of  the  political 
was  early  foreseen  to  be  inevitable,   creed  professed  by  the  friends  of 
but  the  personal  predilections  of  the  Vice  President,  rather  than 
the  President,  which  w^ould  give  that  of  the  radical  party.  The 
great  preponderance  to  the  side   star  of  the  Vice  President  was 
he  might  espouse,  were  as  yet   deemed  to  be  in  the  ascendant, 
unknown.    In  the  formation  of  and  it  was  generally  believed  that 
his  Cabinet  the  first  post  had  been   the  influence  of  the  Executive 
given  to  Mr  Van  Buren  himself;   would  be  exerted  to  promote  his 
but  this  advantage  was  in  some   elevation  to  the  Presidential  chair 
measure  conterbalanced  by  the  upon  his  own  retirement.  These 


NEW  CABINET. 


opinions,  however,  were  not  real- 
ized. While  the  patronage  of 
the  Executive  was  so  directed 
publicly  to  strengthen  Mr  Cal- 
houn's political  party  by  placing 
many  of  his  friends  in  important 
posts,  the  ground  on  which  he 
stood  was  crumbling  beneath  him, 
and  measures  were  in  train  to 
create  a  breach  between  him  and 
the  President.  To  him,  as  a 
more  early  and  efficient  support- 
er, the  President  had  given  a 
greater  share  of  confidence  and 
manifested  a  warmer  feeling  than 
he  had  originally  bestowed  upon 
the  Secretary  of  State,  whose 
support  was  rather  a  matter  of 
necessity  than  of  choice.  In  this 
particular  the  Secretary  labored 
under  a  disadvantage;  but  cir- 
cumstances soon  enabled  him  to 
obtain  a  great  superiority  of  influ- 
ence over  the  mind  of  the  Presi- 
dent. 

The  Secretary  of  War  had 
been  brought  into  the  Cabinet 
solely  on  account  of  the  confiden- 
tial relations  and  intimate  friend- 
ship subsisting  between  him  and 
the  President,  and  of  course  was 
entitled  to,  and  received,  his  en- 
tire confidence.  Upon  the  arri- 
val of  the  Secretary  of  State  at 
Washington,  he  found  a  coolness 
existing  between  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  the  Vice  President,  and 
a  division  in  the  Cabinet  itself  in 
consequence  of  some  disagree- 
ment in  their  private  relations  ;  and 
it  was  instantly  perceived  that  as 
the  President  had  particularly  in- 
terested himself  in  this  matter, 
that  the  most  direct  road  to  his 
confidence  was  by  sustaining  his 
view  of  this  delicate  subject. 
Whether  the  Secretary  of  State 


was  actuated  by  this  motive,  or 
regarding  the  lady  in  question  as 
an  injured  woman,  was  desirous 
of  doing  her  justice  by  affording 
her  his  countenance  and  support, 
certain  it  is,  that  he  made  signal 
efforts  to  facilitate  her  admission 
into  society,  and  by  the  course  he 
took  ultimately  rendered  a  pure 
question  of  morals  and  feeling, 
one  having  a  direct  political  bear- 
ing and  pregnant  with  great  po- 
litical results.  As  the  President 
w^armly  sympathized  in  the  feel- 
ings and  resentment  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  on  this  point,  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and 
Navy,  as  the  objects  of  that  re- 
sentment, gradually  lost  his  confi- 
dence, which  was  transferred  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  whose 
course  both  in  public  and  private 
had  so  completely  harmonized 
with  the  wishes  of  himself  and 
his  friend. 

Tiie  loss  of  influence  on  the 
part  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury had  impaired  the  indirect 
power  of  Mr  Calhoun,  and  the 
same  cause  had  injured  his  own 
standing  with  the  Executive.  No 
open  breach  had  however  as  yet 
taken  place  between  them,  and 
the  Vice  President  and  his  friends 
in  Congress  continued  to  support 
the  administration,  some  of  whose 
most  obnoxious  appointments 
were  carried  by  the  casting  vote 
of  the  Vice  President  as  President 
of  the  Senate.  Affairs  remained 
on  this  uncertain  footing,  until 
nearly  the  close  of  the  first  Ses- 
sion of  the  2 1st  Congress.  At  that 
time  and  after  the  greater  part  of 
the  questionable  nominations  had 
been  confirmed,  a  movement  was 
made  which  ripened  the  misunder- 


24 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


standing  between  the  President 
and  the  Vice  President  into  a  com- 
plete alienation  of  feeling,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  an  open 
rupture.  Before  this  event  oc- 
curred, the  influence  of  the  con- 
troversy above  alluded  to,  had 
effected  a  change  in  the  political 
relations  of  some  of  the  members 
of  the  Cabinet ;  and  upon  that 
question,  the  President,  the  Secre- 
taries of  State  and  of  War,  and  the 
Post-master  General  were  oppos- 
ed to  the  Secretaries  of  the  Trea- 
sury and  Navy,  and  the  Attorney 
'  General,  and  the  division  was  un- 
derstood to  have  no  inconsidera- 
ble bearing  upon  other  questions 
of  greater  importance. 

This  misunderstanding  continu- 
ed to  increase,  until  finally  an  open 
rupture  was  produced.  This 
quarrel  however  professedly  orig- 
inated in  the  view  taken  by  Mr 
Calhoun  of  the  conduct  of  Gene- 
ral ackson  during  the  Seminole 
Campaign  in  18 IS. 

Gen.  Jackson  had  command- 
ed the  American  troops  in  that 
war,  and  acting  as  he  conceived 
in  the  execution  of  his  orders, 
had  invaded  the  territory  of 
Florida  then  belonging  to  Spain, 
and  occupied  the  forts  and  towns 
of  Pensacola  to  which  the  Indians 
had  fled  for  protection.  The 
Spanish  minister  at  Washington 
remonstrated,  and  in  the  discus- 
sions which  took  i)lace  in  Mr 
Monroe's  Cabinet  respecting  this 
transaction,  Mr  Calhoun  as  Secre- 
tary ofWar  proposed,  that  a  court 
of  inquiry  should  be  held  on  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  conduct,  inasmuch 
as  he  had  transcended  his  orders. 

Mr  Crawford,  then  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  also  advocated  a 
course,  which  would  have  been 


deemed  a  censure  on  General 
Jackson  ;  but  the  Secretary  of 
State  (Mr  Adams)  conceding,  that 
the  orders  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment had  been  transcended,  so 
forcibly  vindicated  the  course  of 
General  Jackson  upon  principles  of 
national  law,  that  all  proceedin  s 
against  him  were  relinquished,  and 
the  Government  determined  in  its 
discussions  witli  Spain,  to  justiiv' 
the  invasion,  while  it  delivered  up 
the  posts.  This  was  done  by  an 
able  reply  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  complaints  of  the 
Spanish  minister,  in  which  the 
course  of  the  American  General 
was  successfully  vindicated. 

The  subject  was  afterwards 
agitated  in  Congress,  and  the 
friends  of  Mr  Crawford  in  that 
body  were  particularly  distinguish- 
ed for  their  efforts  to  censure 
the  conduct  of  General  Jackson, 
which  was  denounced  as  arbitrary 
and  contrary  alike  to  the  law  of 
nations  and  the  Constitution. 

As  might  have  been  expected, 
General  Jackson  felt  greatly  ag- 
grieved by  this  attack,  and  his  re- 
sentment was  roused  both  against 
Mr  Crawford  and  Mr  Clay,  whose 
opinions  on  this  subject  were  open- 
ly avowed  in  the  debate  on  the 
Seminole  war. 

Towards  Mr  Adams,  by  whom 
he  had  been  so  ably  and  so  uni- 
formly defended,  and  towards  Mr 
Calhoun,  who  had  publicly  sus- 
tained him  notwithstanding  his 
first  impressions,  he  had  until 
lately  expressed  the  warmest  feel- 
ings of  gratitude.  This  harmo- 
nious footing,  which  was  first  dis- 
turbed by  the  controversy  above- 
mentioned,  was  now  destined  to 
be  totally  destroyed. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  1st 


NEW  CABINET. 


25 


Session  of  the  21st  Congress,  and 
only  two  days  after  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  nomination  of  Amos 
Kendall,  (one  of  the  obnoxious 
appointments  of  the  Executive) 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice 
President,  a  letter  from  Mr  Craw- 
ford to  Mr  Forsyth  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  General  Jackson 
by  the  agency  of  a  particular 
friend  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
then  at  Washington,  accusing  Mr 
Calhoun  of  having  proposed  a 
censure  upon  him  for  his  conduct 
in  the  Seminole  Campaign.  This 
letter  was  transmitted  to  Mr  Cal- 
houn by  the  President,  with  an 
intimation,  that  it  was  so  contrary 
to  his  impressions  of  the  course 
he  had  supposed  Mr  Calhoun  to 
have  pursued,  as  to  require  some 
explanation.   Mr  Calhoun  replied 
and  showed,  by  referring  to  the 
correspondence  between  General 
Jackson  and  the  Government  in 
1818,  that  he  must  have  known 
Mr  Calhoun's  opinion  to  be  that 
he  had  transcended  his  orders, 
and  that  his  vindication  had  then 
been  placed  upon  other  and  dis- 
tinct grounds.    Mr  Calhoun  then 
proceeded  to  inquire  into  the 
motives,  which  had  led  at  this  late 
period,  to  a  renewal  of  this  dis- 
cussion, and  avowed  his  belief 
that  it  had  originated  in  a  desire 
to  detract  from  his  influence  with 
the  President,  and  thus  to  destroy 


his  political  standing  with  the 
friends  of  the  administration.  A 
long  and  protracted  correspon- 
dence ensued,  in  which  the  late 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr 
Crawford,  and  several  of  his  con- 
fidential friends  took  part,  and 
although  the  Secretary  of  State 
distinctly  disclaimed  all  knowledge 
of  the  preliminary  movements 
and  all  motive  to  detract  from  the 
political  standing  of  the  Vice 
President,  still  their  respective 
claims  upon  the  succession,  his 
course  in  public  and  private,  after 
being  appointed  Secretary  of 
State,  and  the  political  relations  of 
the  agents,  who  appeared  as  the 
prime  movers  in  this  discreditable 
business,  produced  a  general  im- 
pression, that  its  sole  object  was 
to  create  a  breach  betv/een  the 
President  and  Vice  President, 
with  the  view  of  destroying  the  in- 
fluence of  a  formidable  competitor 
for  public  favor. 

The  movement  was  successful, 
and  a  party  which  was  formed 
upon  the  principle  of  overturning 
by  a  personal  combination,  an  ad- 
ministration that  refused  to  sub- 
serve the  political  views  of  its 
leaders,  was  divided,  and  resolved 
into  its  original  elements  by  the 
personal  jealousies  and  conflicting 
claims  of  the  ri\^al  competitors  for 
the  succession. 


3* 


CHAPTER  II. 


Situation  of  Country.  —  Claims  upon  France.  —  Origin  of  Claims. 

—  Claims  upon  Denmark ;  Settlement  of  —  History  of  French 
Claims;  Negotiations  concerning  same. — Brazil.  —  Negotia- 
tions with  Turkey ;  Treaty.  —  Great  Britain  ;  Colonial 
Controversy ;  History  of  Disjmte.  —  Policy  of  Great  Britain; 
Of  the  United  States.  —  Laiv  of  ISIS.  —  Of  IS20.  — Negotia- 
tion.—  British  Law  of  1822.  —  Latv  of  1823. — American 
Ports  opened. — British  Law  of  1825. —  Colonial  Ports  closed. 

—  Negotiations  renewed,  —  Proceedings  in  Congress. —  Conces- 
sions by  United  States.  —  American  Ports  opened.  —  Colonial 
Ports  opened. 


The  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States  at  the  coniimence- 
ment  of  the  new  administration 
presented  a  }Deaceful  and  tranquil 
aspect. 

Controversies  had  arisen  with 
Great  Britain  in  relation  to  the 
West  India  trade  and  concerning 
the  boundary  line  between  Maine 
and  the  British  Provinces  of 
Canada  and  New  Brunswick ; 
but  this  last  question  had  been 
referred,  by  consent,  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  King  of  the  ether- 
lands,  and  after  a  long  contest,  the 
former  had  terminated  in  a  sus- 
pension of  all  direct  intercourse 
between  the  United  States  and 
the  British  Islands  —  both  parties 
adhering  to  their  respective  prin- 
ciples as  too  important  to  be 
abandoned. 

Claims,  too,  existed  upon  most 
of  the   Continental   Powers  for 


spoliations  of  American  com- 
merce during  the  war  consequent 
upon  the  French  Revolution,  com- 
mitted with  the  double  view  of 
filling  their  own  treasuries,  and 
diminishing  the  resources  of  their 
enemies,  by  cutting  off  their  trade 
with  neutrals. 

It  had  always  been  the  favorite 
policy  of  powerful  belligerents  to 
narrow  the  limits  of  neutral  com- 
merce, by  multiplying  the  pre- 
texts of  seizure  and  confiscation  ; 
but,  during  that  war,  this  system 
was  carried  to  an  extent  of  which 
previous  history  had  afforded  no 
example,  and  was  sought  to  be 
justified  on  peculiar  principles. 
It  was  upon  the  wealth  and  re- 
sources of  these  United  States 
that  these  measures  were  meant 
chiefly  lo  operate,  and  it  was  the 
policy  of  that  government  that 
they  w^ere  intended  to  control. 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS. 


27 


The  grasping  spirit  of  European 
monopoly  attempted  to  impose 
new  shackles,  in  place  of  the  co- 
lonial fetters  that  had  been  shaken 
off,  and  displayed  itself  in  continu- 
al efforts  to  cripple  the  commerce 
it  could  not  prohibit,  lessen  the 
resources  it  was  not  suffered  to 
approbate,  and  arrest  the  growth 
of  the  prosperity  it  had  no  longer 
the  power  to  crush.  The  first 
act  in  this  series  of  aggressions 
was  an  exclusion  from  an  exten- 
sive branch  in  the  carrying  trade, 
by  a  sudden  revival,  in  a  new 
form,  and  with  a  wider  applica- 
tion of  the  rule  of  1756.  Our 
partial  submission  to  this  measure 
was  followed  by  successive  out- 
rages by  all  the  belligerent  pow- 
ers upon  American  commerce, 
and  the  persons  of  those  engaged 
in  it.* 

From  Spain,  one  of  the  bel- 
ligerent parties,  satisfaction  was 
obtained  by  the  cession  of  Flori- 
da, and  the  claims  of  American 
citizens  on  that  power  to  the 
amount  of  $5,000,000  were  li- 
quidated and  paid.  There  still 
exists,  however,  claims  upon  the 
Governments  of  France  and  other 
continental  powers  of  Europe, 
formidable  in  their  amount,  and 
the  settlement  of  which  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  the  national 
character. 

The  claim  upon  Denmark  rests 
upon  grounds  different  from  those 
upon  France  and  the  dependent 
kingdoms  of  that  power. 

They  grew  out  of  a  system  of 
piratical  privateering  upon  Ameri- 
can commerce,  which  was  coun- 


tenanced by  the  Admiralty  Courts 
of  that  kingdom. 

Some  vessels  were  captured 
for  having  French  consular  cer- 
tificates on  board  ;  the  Emperor 
Napolean  having  notified  the 
northern  courts  that  bis  consuls  in 
the  United  States  would  not  issue 
any  neutral  certificates  after  the 
22d  of  September,  1810,  when, 
in  fact,  bis  order  to  his  consuls 
was  not  received  in  the  United 
States  until  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber following.  Stilt,  those  ves- 
sels, having  certificates  of  the 
French  Consuls,  issued  previous 
to  that  period,  were  captured  and 
condemned  ;  and  by  this  celebrat- 
ed juggle  between  these  courts^a 
large  amount  of  property  was 
seized.  Other  vessels  were  con- 
demned as  having  accepted  Brit- 
ish convoy,  a  ground  of  condem- 
nation that  ought  never  to  have 
been  applied  to  those  vessels 
which  were  compelled  to  accept, 
by  superior  force,  of  that  protec- 
tion which  proved  so  fatal  to 
them. 

Negotiations  were  renewed  un 
der  Mr  Adams'  administration, 
with  the  view  of  obtaining  com- 
pensation for  these  claims,  and 
Mr  Wheaton,  a  gentleman  of  tal- 
ent and  learning,  was  selected  as 
Minister  to  Denmark.  After  two 
years'  residence,  his  exertions 
were  crowned  with  success,  and 
a  treaty  was  formed,  March  28th, 
1830,  by  which  the  controversy 
was  terminated  ;  the  Danish  Gov- 
ernment paying  $650,000,  in 
full  compensation  of  all  claims 
arising  from  the  illegal  captures 


*  The  aggressions  of  England  finally  provoked  a  war  between  the  two  countries, 
and  by  a  resort  to  that  remedy,  of  course  all  claims  for  spoliations  or  illegal  seizures 
were  done  away. 


28 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


f 


and  confiscations  of  American 
vessels. 

The  claims  upon  France,  how- 
ever, are  of  a  paramount  charac- 
ter, on  account  of  the  magnitude, 
and  of  the  nature  of  the  conside- 
rations by  which  they  are  recom- 
mended to  public  attention. 

In  the  year  1806,  November 
2 1st,  the  Emperor  of  France, 
on  the  alleged  ground  that  Eng- 
land had  infringed  the  rights  of 
neutrals  in  blockading  the  coasts 
of  France  and  Holland,  and  pro- 
hibiting them  from  carrying  on 
the  trade  between  the  colonies 
and  the  belligerent  mother  coun- 
tries, issued  his  celebrated  Berlin 
Decree.  By  this  decree  the 
British  Islands  were  declared  to 
be  in  a  state  of  blockade,  and  ail 
correspondence  with  them  was 
prohibited.  Letters  written  in 
English  were  made  liable  to 
seizure ;  all  trade  in  English 
merchandize  was  forbidden,  and 
the  goods  made  lawful  prize. 
Vessels  coming  directly  from 
England  or  her  colonies,  or  having 
been  there  since  the  publication  of 
the  decree  were  prohibited  from 
entering  any  French  ports  and  any 
attempt  to  evade  that  regulation, 
by  means  af  a  false  declaration, 
was  punished  by  confiscation. 

Under  this  decree  a  number 
of  American  vessels  arriving  in 
France  after  its  promulgation, 
were  seized,  because  they  had  put 
into  England  ;  being  forced  in  by 
stress  of  weather,  or  sent  in  by 
English  cruisers  for  examination. 
This  seizure  was  unauthorized 
even  by  the  decree  itself,  which 
imposed  no  other  penalty  on  ves- 
sels coming  from  English  ports, 


than  their  compulsory  departure 
from  those  of  the  continent,  and 
limited  the  right  to  seize  to  the 
single  case  of  an  attempt  to  evade 
this  provision  by  a  false  declaration. 

At  this  time,  too,  the  convention 
between  France  and  the  United 
States,  of  the  30th  September, 
1800,  was  in  full  force.  By  the 
22d  article  of  that  convention, 
it  was  agreed  that  the  established 
courts  for  prize  causes  should 
alone  take  cognizance  of  the  ves- 
sels and  property  of  American 
and  French  citizens,  and  that, 
when  judgment  should  be  pro- 
nounced against  them,  the  sen- 
tence should  mention  the  reasons 
of  the  decision. 

It  was  accordingly  provided  in 
the  Berlin  decree,  that  the  council 
of  prizes  at  Paris  should  decide 
upon  all  questions  arising  under 
that  decree.  When  theseAmer- 
ican  vessels  were  seized,  a  ques- 
tion arose  whether  they  were  lia- 
ble to  seizure  under  that  decree, 
on  the  ground,  that  they  had  not 
gone  voluntarily  but  had  been  co- 
erced into  the  ports  of  England. 

The  question  was  never  submit- 
ted to  the  council  of  prizes ;  but, 
onthe4lhof  September,  1807, 
the  director  general  of  the  customs 
issued  a  circular,  giving  the  most 
rigorous  construction  to  the  decree, 
and  a  retrospective  effect  to  his 
own  decision,  so  as  to  extend  it 
over  all  the  American  vessels 
which  had  been  previously  seized 
and  were  then  waiting  for  trial. 
The  injustice  therefore  of  the  con- 
demnations which  took  place  un- 
der this  construction  of  the  decree 
did  not  consist  merely  in  their  in- 
fringement of  the  law  of  nations, 


FRENCH  CLAIMS. 


20 


but  was  heightened  by  their  viola- 
tion of  the  express  terms  of  a 
treaty. 

On  the  nth  December,  1807, 
the  Berlin  decree  was  followed  by 
the  Milan  decree,  also  in  professed 
rataliation  of  the  invasions  of  neu- 
tral rights  by  England.  Tiiis  de- 
cree provided  that  any  ship,  which 
should  submit  to  be  searched  by  an 
English  vessel,  or  had  been  carried 
into  England,  or  paid  any  duty  to 
the  English  Government,  should 
be  adjudged  to  have  forfeited  the 
protection  of  its  own  Government, 
to  have  become  English  property, 
and  to  be  good  and  lawful  prize. 

The  British  Islands  were  de- 
clared to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade, 
and  all  ships,  of  whatever  nation, 
sailing  from  or  to  English  ports, 
were  declared  to  be  lawful  prize 
and  liable  to  capture.  This  article 
was  a  new  and  further  infraction 
of  the  convention  of  1800,  which 
was  still  in  force.  By  the  12th 
and  14th  articles  of  that  conven- 
tion the  French  Government  had 
expressly  stipulated  that  free 
ships  should  give  freedom  to  the 
goods  of  an  enemy,  and  that 
American  vessels  might  pass  and 
repass,  freely,  to  and  from  the 
ports  of  the  enemies  of  France, 
unless  the  same  were  '  actually 
blockaded,  besieged  or  invested.' 
This  decree,  like  that  issued  at 
Berlin,  was  nominally  applicable 
to  all  neutral  vessels :  but  the 
chief  operation  of  both  was  upon 
American  commerce. 

It  was  soon  made  the  pretext 
of  the  seizure  and  sale  of  a  great 
number  of  American  vessels  and 
cargoes,  the  proceeds  of  which, 
without  scruple,  were  applied  to 
the  service  of  the  French  govern- 


ment. Orders  were  given  to 
caj)turej  and  even  to  destroy,  every 
American  vessel  bound  to  Eng- 
land or  her  dependencies.  Nor 
were  the  armed  vessels  of  France 
slow  or  scrupulous  in  enforcing 
these  orders.  Numbers  of  Amer- 
ican vessels  were  burnt  at  sea, 
without  even  the  form  of  a  trial, 
and  condemned  by  no  other  sen- 
tence than  the  will  of  the  captors. 
And  this  wanton  violation  of  neu- 
tral rights  was,  in  some  instances, 
carried  so  far  as  to  cause  the  de- 
struction of  American  vessels 
bound  from  their  own  country, 
not  to  hostile  but  to  neutral  ports. 

The  violent  and  inimical  spirit 
shown  by  both  belligerents  to- 
wards the  commerce  of  the  United 
States,  at  last  induced  the  Ameri- 
can Government  to  lay  an  embar- 
go, for  the  purpose  of  withdrawing 
the  property  of  its  citizens  from 
the  grasp  of  their  unprincipled 
policy.  Even  this  measure,  paci- 
fic as  it  was,  had  the  effect  of  pro- 
voking further  aggressions  upon 
the  remnant  of  its  commerce,  in 
the  shape  of  a  decree  at  Bayonne, 
April  1 7,  1 808,  ordering  the  seiz- 
ure of  all  American  vessels  then 
in  the  ports  of  France,  or  which 
might  afterwards  arrive  there, 
without  any  pretence  except  one, 
which  was  false  in  fact  and  in  its 
spirit  most  offensive  and  insulting. 

The  pretence  was,  that  an  em- 
bargo having  been  laid  by  Con- 
gress, no  American  vessel  could 
be  lawfully  abroad,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  those  which  appear- 
ed as  such,  could  have  no  title  to 
the  national  character,  but  ought 
to  be  condemned  as  British  pro- 
perty. This  most  extraordinary 
claim  on  the  part  of  the  French 


30 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Government,  was  met  not  only  by- 
proper  remonstrances  by  the 
American  minister,  but  by  an  ex- 
planation, showing  that,  at  the 
time  of  laying  the  embargo,  tliere 
were  many  American  vessels 
-abroad,  which  were  ordered  by 
their  owners  not  to  return  to  the 
United  States  until  that  law  should 
be  repealed. — The  operation  of 
the  embargo  on  the  commercial 
and  agricultural  interests  of  the 
country,  finally  induced  Congress 
to  repeal  the  law  in  respect  to  all 
countries,  except  England  and 
France,  and  the  non-intercourse 
system  was  adopted  in  its  stead. 
By  that  system,  all  English  and 
French  vessels  and  merchandize 
•.were  excluded  from  American 
ports,  until  they  had  revoked  or 
so  modified  their  hostile  decrees, 
as  to  exempt  our  commerce  from 
their  destructive  operation.  In 
that  event,  the  commercial  inter- 
course of  the  United  States  was 
to  be  renewed  with  that  belliger- 
ent, which  should  thus  evince  its 
disposition  to  return  to  the  ob- 
servance of  the  rights  of  friendly 
nations^ 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1809, 
tliis  law  was  communicated  by 
the  American  minister  to  the 
French  Government.  No  indica- 
tion was  given  by  that  Govern- 
ment that  it  was  regarded  as  a 
hostile  measure,  and  no  remon- 
strance was  made  against  it. 

Tow^ards  the  end  of  that  year, 
however,  orders  were  given  to 
seize  all  American  vessels  in  the 
ports  of  France,  or  in  possession 
of  her  armies  ;  and,  alter  a  great 
number  had  been  thus  seized,  a 
decree  was  issued,  dated  at  Ram- 
bouillet,  March  23,  1810,  con- 


firming those  seizures ;  extending 
by  a  retrospective  operation,  the 
principle  to  all  American  vessels 
which  had  entered  France,  or  the 
dependent  countries,  since  May 
20,  1809,  dud  directing  the  pro- 
ceeds arising  from  their  sale,  to 
be  paid  into  the  Public  Treasury. 
Even  this  *  outrageous  measure,' 
as  it  has  been  justly  styled,  in 
the  official  correspondence  of  the 
American  minister,  was  not  the 
limit  of  the  aggressions  of  the 
continental  belligerents.  In  pur- 
suance of  the  continental  system, 
promulgated  in  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees,  which  were  com- 
municated as  orders  to  tlie  de- 
pendent allies  of  France,  many 
American  vessels  were  seized  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  forty- 
seven  in  number,  and  valued  at 
four  millions  of  dollars ;  were 
enticed  into  the  Neapolitan  ports 
by  a  decree  of  Murat,  which  re- 
laxed the  rigor  of  the  blockade 
decrees  as  to  American  vessels, 
and,  when  they  had  trusted  them- 
selves to  this  plighted  faith,  the 
Neapolitan  Government  caused 
them  to  be  seized,  with  their  car- 
goes, which  were  sold  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Government,  and 
some  of  the  vessels  were  taken 
into  the  public  service. 

In  Holland,  American  vessels 
arriving  in  her  ports  in  1809, 
some  of  them  forced  in  by  stress 
of  weather,  were  sequestered, 
without  any  pretence  of  their 
having  infringed  the  laws  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  their  cargoes  placed 
in  the  public  stores.  The  ves- 
sels were  permitted  to  depart,  as 
not  having  violated'any  laws  ;  but 
the  cargoes  were  detained,  until 
the  16th  of  March,  IS  10,  when 


FRENCH  CLAIMS. 


under  an  article  of  a  treaty  signed 
at  Paris,  on  the  16th  January, 
1810,  between  Holland  and 
France,  they  v/ere  delivered  to 
the  French  Government  as  Amer- 
ican, and  by  them  received  as 
such,  to  be  dealt  with  '  according 
to  circumstances,  and  the  political 
relations  between  France  and  the 
United  States.' 

The  United  States  were  thus 
made  parties  to  this  sequestration, 
which  was,  in  the  most  pointed 
manner,  directed  against  them, 
as  the  public  enemies  of  France, 
unless  tlie  American  Government 
would  vindicate  the  rights  of 
neutrals  by  such  means  and  in 
such  a  mode,  as  the  French  Gov- 
ernment chose  to  prescribe. 

Other  nations  have  demanded 
and  obtained  from  France,  indem- 
nity for  their  citizens  for  less 
atrocious  wrongs.  In  1805,  a 
French  squadron  under  D'Alie- 
mand,  destroyed  several  neutral 
vessels  at  sea,  among  which  were 
four  American  ships.  The  own- 
ers of  all  these  vessels,  except 
the  Americans  were  paid  for  their 
property  during  the  reign  of  Na- 
poleon. The  American  owners 
are  yet  unpaid. 

In  reference,  indeed,  to  every 
class  and  description  of  claims, 
has  this  preference  for  the  subjects 
of  European  powers,  over  Amer- 
ican citizens,  been  strongly  mani- 
fested. In  1 8 1 4,  when  Napoleon 
was  compelled  to  abdicate,  and 
the  Bourbons  were  restored  by 
the  allied  forces,  the  Government 
of  France,  by  a  treaty  with  the 
principal  powers  of  Europe,  en- 
gaged to  liquidate  and  pay  all  the 
legal  obligations  which  the  former 
Government  was  under  to  indi- 


viduals, '  in  countries  beyond  its 
territories.'  This  it  was  bound 
to  do,  without  the  formality  of  a 
treaty.  In  the  practice  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  according  to 
every  principle  of  public  law,  h 
is  well  established  that  the  obli- 
gations of  treaties,  and  other  offi- 
cial acts  of  government,  are  never 
affected  by  revolutions  or  changes 
of  dynasty. 

Indeed  the  principle  of  making 
an  indemnity,  was  distinctly  ad- 
mitted by  tlie  representatives  of 
France,  in  their  note  to  the  min- 
isters of  the  Allies,  September 
21st,  1815  ;  and  in  the  treaty  by 
which  the  pacification  of  Europe 
was  made,  it  was  inserted  to  pre- 
vent any  doubt  as  to  the  settled 
practice  of  nations. 

By  this  article,  which  was 
meant  as  a  general  declaration  on 
the  part  of  France  to  the  civilized 
world,  and  not  merely  as  a  cove- 
nant in  favor  of  the  parties  to  the 
Treaty,  all  acts  of  violence  not 
included  within  the  description  of 
damages  of  war,  were  provided 
for ;  and  by  a  supplemental  arti- 
cle with  Great  Britain,  losses  by 
assignats,  in  the  heat  of  the  re- 
volution, and  all  claims  for  illegal 
confiscations  or  sequestrations  by 
the  revolutionary  government,  or 
by  Napoleon,  were  liquidated  and 
paid  to  English  subjects. 

In  pursuance  of  this  treaty  de- 
claration, the  Government  of 
France  since  the  restoration,  pro- 
ceeded to  liquidate  and  extinguish 
claims  of  the  subjects,  both  of 
the  great  Powers  and  petty  States 
of  Europe  ;  but  the  claims  of 
American  citizens  were  uniformly 
neglected. 

Negotiations  were  opened  for 


32 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


indemnity  and  the  Executive  of 
the  United  States  urged  the  de- 
mands of  the  clainfiants  for  justice 
with  great  ability  upon  the  govern- 
ment of  France  ;  but  the  govern- 
ment, presuming  upon  the  apathy 
of  the  American  people  towards 
the  rights  of  the  claimants,  or  up- 
on the  pacific  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, has  hitherto  met  these 
remonstrances  with  the  most  fu- 
tile excuses.  The  Government  of 
France  has  not  set  up  against  these 
claims,  the  doctrine,  that  the  lia- 
bilities of  the  former  rulers  of 
France  did  not  descend  to  her 
present  governors,  notwithstand- 
ing the  change  of  dynasty.  But 
it  has  sought  to  avoid  making  com- 
pensation by  silence,  by  delays, 
by  evasions,  and  finally,  by  a 
refusal  to  negotiate,  unless  the 
Government  of  the  United  States 
would  connect  its  claims  with  the 
claim  lately  made  by  France,  to 
be  admitted  into  the  ports  of  Lou- 
isiana upon  the  same  footing  as 
British  vessels.  This  demand 
was  brought  up  after  all  other 
pretences  had  been  unavailingly 
resorted  to,  and  after  more  than 
five  years  had  elapsed  subsequent 
to  the  treaty,  which  gave  rise  to 
that  claim. 

The  American  Government 
refused  either  to  admit  that  de- 
mand or  to  suffer  it  to  be  connect- 
ed with  the  negotiations  for  in- 
demnities, for  spoliations  upon  its 
commerce.  On  that  footing  mat- 
ters stood  for  many  years,  the 
claimants  meanwhile  suffering 
from  the  delay  of  justice.  Upon 
the  change  in  the  administration 
of  the  Federal  Government,  it 
was  hoped,  from  the  character  of 
the  new  President  for  energy  and 


decision,  that  he  would  not  suffer 
claims  so  justly  founded,  to  con- 
tinue unliquidated  or  answered 
with  frivolous  excuses  or  untena- 
ble pretences. 

A  strong  feeling  had  prevailed 
in  the  public  mind  on  the  subject, 
which  only  required  an  opportu- 
nity to  manifest  itself,  and  vigorous 
steps  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment, would  have  met  with  a 
hearty  response  from  the  people. 

Movements  were  made  in  popu- 
lar meetings,  with  the  view  of 
urging  the  Government  to  require 
a  definite  answer  from  France 
respecting  the  claims ;  and  the 
new  minister  to  that  Government 
received  instructions  specially  to 
enforce  their  liquidation. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  recovery  of  these  claims  was 
placed  on  a  more  favorable  foot- 
ing by  the  revolution  which  took 
place  in  the  French  Government 
itself.  A  Government  which  re- 
garded w^ith  a  more  favorable  eye 
the  institutions  of  a  republic,  was 
substituted  for  the  bigoted  and 
imbecile  Bourbons,  and  the  rever- 
ed and  patriotic  La  Fayette,  the 
friend  of  America,  \vas  restored 
to  the  unlimited  influence  that  he 
exercised  in  the  commencement 
of  the  first  revolution.  These 
fortunate  events  rendered  the 
liquidation  of  these  long  neglected 
claims  almost  certain,  and  the 
mercantile  community  congratu- 
lated, itself  upon  the  probable 
adjustment  of  the  sole  contro- 
versy between  the  United  States 
and  their  ancient  ally. 

The  dispute  with  the  Brazilian 
Government  respecting  the  illegal 
seizure,   and    condemnation  of 


TURKISH  TREATY. 


33 


American  property  had  been  hap- 
pily adjusted  ;  and  an  opening  was 
afforded  by  the  collisions  of  the 
principal  European  powers  with 
the  Sublime  Porte,  to  extend  the 
commercial  relations  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  by  entering  into  a 
treaty  v/ith  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment. Efforts  had  been  made  at 
an  early  period  in  the  history  of 
the  Federal  Government,  to  obtain 
access  for  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  to  the  Black  Sea, 
During  the  administration  of  John 
Adams,  a  contingent  commission 
Vv-as  given  to  William  Smith,  then 
minister  to  Portugal,  to  proceed 
to  Constantinople  for  that  purpose. 
But  the  clamor,  which  was  at  that 
lime  raised  against  the  extension 
of  our  diplomatic  relations,  pre- 
vented the  execution  of  that  mis- 
sion. Mr  Jefferson,  in  pursuance 
of  the  Chinese  policy,  which  he 
deemed  to  be  the  true  policy  of 
the  United  States,  permitted  the 
subject  to  rest,  and  Mr  Madison 
was  diverted  from  prosecuting  it 
by  the  urgency  of  our  European 
relations  during  his  administra- 
tion. Mr  Monroe  early  directed 
his  attention  that  way,  and  pro- 
posed not  long  after  the  com- 
mencement of  his  administration, 
to  Mr  William  Lowndes  to  un- 
dertake a  mission  to  Constantino- 
ple ;  but  from  personal  considera- 
tions this  proposal  was  declined 
by  him. 

The  insurrection  in  Greece 
which  broke  out  shortly  after, 
retarded  the  business  by  render- 
ing it  necessary  to  proceed  with 
caution,  in  order  to  avoid  entang- 
ling alhances  with  the  Porte, 
which  might  have  operated  un- 
favorably upon  the  Greek  cause. 


Mr  George  B.  English,  however, 
was  employed  as  a  special  agent 
to  collect  information  respecting 
the  state  of  the  war  in  Greece 
and  of  the  substance  of  the  com- 
mercial treaties  to  which  Turkey 
was  already  a  party.  Mr  Eng- 
lish was  again  sent  out  with 
Commodore  Rodgers  in  J  825,  as 
a  secretary  and  interpreter,  with 
instructions  to  seek  an  interview 
with  the  Capitan  Pasha  and  to 
hold  an  amicable  communication 
with  him.  This  was  done  and  it 
was  then  ascertained,  that  a  treaty 
on  favorable  terms  could  be  con- 
cluded without  difficulty. 

Mr  Offley,  the  American  con- 
sul at  Smyrna,  had,  during  the 
s.ame  period,  frequently  visited 
Constantinopleupon  business  and 
from  his  communications  with 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  Porte, 
had  formed  a  similar  opinion  ;  and- 
in  his  communications  with  the 
Government  he  had  strongly  urged 
the  propriety  of  taking  steps  to 
conclude  a  treaty. 

In  the  spring  of  1820,  Com- 
modore Rodgers  returned  to  the 
United  States  ;  and  as  the  war 
between  Russia  and  Turkey,  and 
the  battle  of  Navarino,  by  destroy- 
ing the  mfluence  of  England  with 
the  Porte,  gave  peculiar  advan- 
tages in  conducting  the  negotia- 
tion, the  President  determined 
that  the  opportunity  should  not 
be  lost.  In  the  month  of  July, 
1828,  Mr  Adams  authorized  T-a* 
Offley,  the  American  Consul  at 
Smyrna,  to  proceed  to  Constanti- 
nople for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining definitely  the  disposition 
of  the  Turkish  government  with 
regard  to  a  commercial  treaty 
with  the  United  States.    If  ,he 


34 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


should  find  that  such  a  treaty 
could  be  with  certainty  concluded, 
full  powers  were  furnished  to  him 
and  to  Commodore  Crane,  then 
Commander  of  the  American 
Squadron  in  the  Mediterranean, 
jointly  or  severally  for  the  nego- 
tiation of  it ;  but  they  were  ex- 
pressly inhibited  from  assenting 
to  any  article,  which  might  be  in- 
compatible with  the  neutrality  of 
the  United  States.  As  the  suc- 
cess of  this  business  necessarily 
depended  upon  its  secrecy,  these 
commissioners  were  appointed 
under  the  authority  of  the  Presi- 
dent, to  appoint  executive  agents, 
and  such  portion  of  the  contin- 
gent fund  as  was  at  the  disposal  of 
the  President,  was  set  apart  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  mis- 
sion^ and  of  the  negotiation.  Up- 
on arriving  at  Constantinople,  Mr 
Offley  found  affairs  on  so  favora- 
ble a  footing,  that  he  at  once  com- 
menced negotiations,  and  in  a 
short  time  agreed  upon  the  pro- 
visions of  a  commercial  treaty. 
The  preliminaries  beingthus  hap- 
pily adjusted,  the  treaty  would 
have  been  at  once  concluded,  had 
the  commissioners  been  provided 
with  funds  to  make  the  customary 
presents  upon  the  formation  of  a 
treaty.  Mr -Offley  was  desirous 
of  then  concluding  it  and  of  as- 
suming the  responsibility  of  draw- 
ing upon  the  state  department  for 
the  amount  of  the  presents ;  but 
Captain  Crane,  who,  as  instructed 
by  the  President,  had  joined  him 
at  Constantinople,  declining  that 
course,  the  negotiation  was  sus- 
pended, and  a  communication 
was  made  to  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, informing  it  of  the  situa- 
tion in  which  the  business  was 
placed. 


This  communication  was  re- 
ceived at  Washington  a  few  days 
after  the  inauguration  of  General 
Jackson,  who,  after  obtaining 
from  his  predecessor  an  account 
of  the  previous  proceedings,  de- 
termined to  continue  the  negotia- 
tion. Commodore  Biddle  having, 
in  the  meantime,  taken  the  place 
of  Crane  as  commander  of  the 
squadron,  was  also  substituted  for 
him  as  one  of  the  Commissioners, 
and  Mr  Rhind,  who  had  been 
commissioned  as  Consul  of  the 
United  States  at  Odessa,  was  ap- 
pointed as  a  third  commissioner 
to  assist  in  bringing  the  matter  to 
a  conclusion. 

The  commissioners  w^ere  au- 
thorized to  make  the  presents 
required,  and  a  treaty  was  formed 
between  the  two  governments,  the 
details  of  which  had  not  been 
promulgated  at  the  close  of  the 
year. 

The  controversy  v/ith  Great 
Britain  respecting  the  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the 
West  Indies  was  not  of  recent  ori- 
gin. It  was  almost  coeval  with 
their  separation  from  Great  Brit- 
ain. 

Previous  to  that  event  an  inter- 
course, subject  to  but  little  res- 
traint had  existed  as  between  col- 
onies of  the  same  power  ;  and 
upon  the  establishment  of  peace 
it  began  to  be  renewed  upon  the 
ancient  terms.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  the  provisions  of 
the  British  Navigation  Laws  were, 
upon  the  suggestion  of  Lord  Nel- 
son, then  stationed  in  the  West 
Indies,  enforced  against  Ameri- 
can vessels ;  and  the  controversy 
respecting  the  colonial  trade  was 
commenced. 


COLONIAL  CONTROVERSY. 


35 


Mr  Pitt,  upon  whom  as  minister 
it  devolved  to  bring  the  matter 
forward  in  Parliament,  was  at  first 
inclined  to  place  the  intercourse 
upon  the  footing  of  exact  recipro- 
city. Unfortunately  however  for 
both  countries,  he  was  prevented 
from  carrying  into  effect  these 
liberal  views,  by  the  publication  of 
a  pamphlet  of  Lord  Sheffield, 
showing  the  possibility  of  engross- 
ing the  direct  carrying  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Eng- 
land, by  confining  the  circuitous 
voyage  through  the  West  Indies 
exclusively  to  British  vessels. 
British  goods  destined  for  the 
American  market,  could  then  be 
transported  in  British  vessels, 
which,  after  landing  their  cargoes, 
would  return  by  a  circuitous  route 
carrying  supplies  to  the  islands, 
and  bringing  the  produce  of  the 
West  Indies  to  the  ports  of  the 
mother  country. 

This  combination  of  voyages 
was  felt  to  be  a  great  advantage, 
and  it  was  determined  to  secure  it 
to  British  navigation.  American 
vessels  were  accordingly  excluded 
from  the  islands,  but  the  hostilities 
in  which  England  soon  after  be- 
came involved  with  France  com- 
pelled her  to  relax  the  rigor  of 
the  system  in  ordd'r  to  secure  to 
her  colonies  supplies  which  were 
indispensable  to  their  existence, 
and  w^hich  could  not  then  be  ob- 
tained except  from  the  United 
States.  The  colonial  governors 
accordingly  assumed  the  pov/er 
of  opening  from  time  to  time  the 
ports  of  their  respective  islands, 
and  though  this  intercourse  w^as 
precarious  and  subject  to  continual 
interruptions,  it  served  to  keep  the 
islands  supplied,  and  gave  to  the 


navigation  of  the  United  States  a 
share  in  the  carrying  trade,  with 
which  they  were  satisfied.  On 
this  footing  the  matter  rested,  until 
the  late  war  between  this  country 
and  England  put  an  entire  stop  to 
the  trade  and  compelled  the  islands 
to  depend  upon  other  sources  for 
supplies. 

Upon  the  renewal  of  friendly 
relations,  the  United  States  found 
the  situation  of  England  materially 
changed.  The  world  was  at 
peace.  Her  navigation  no  longer, 
with  that  of  the  United  States, 
carried  on  the  trade  of  Europe. 
The  continental  kingdoms  sought 
to  secure  tlieir  own  commerce  to 
their  own  tonnage,  and  a  contest 
commenced  between  these  two 
great  maritime  powers  for  the  car- 
rying trade  between  their  respec- 
tive possessions.  Both  sagacious, 
active  and  alive  to  their  own  inter- 
ests, they  endeavored  to  promote 
them  upon  conflicting  principles. 

England,  possessing  extensive 
colonies  in  remote  quarters  of  the 
globe,  strove  to  monopolize  their 
commerce,  and  the  principles  she 
acted  upon  in  her  navigation  system 
were,  1st,  to  secure  the  carrying 
trade  of  the  world  to  her  ow^n 
shipping,  and  2d,  to  distribute 
such  portion  of  it  as  did  not  devolve 
to  her  own  tonnage  among  the 
odier  maritime  powers,  so  that  no 
one  by  her  single  strength  might 
endanger  the  commercial  supre- 
macy of  England  and  question  her 
title  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas. 

To  effect  these  objects,  her 
celebrated  Navigation  acts  were 
passed,  founded  upon  the  princi- 
ples of  monopoly  and  exclusion. 

The  United  States,  on  the  con- 
trary, without  colonies,  but  unbur- 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


dened  by  debt,  and  enjoying  inex- 
haustible resources,  desired  only 
to  enter  into  competition  with  the 
maritime  powers  of  Europe  upon 
equal  terms.  Possibly  upon  an 
unequal  footing  their  advantages 
as  a  youthful  nation  might  have 
enabled  them  to  succeed,  but  their 
interest  obviously  pointed  to  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of 
equality  and  reciprocity,  and  their 
character  as  an  independent  power 
could  not  be  satisfied  with  less. 
With  this  view  they  laid  a  discri- 
minadng  tonnage  duty  in  faVor  of 
American  vessels ;  but  offered 
to  place  the  vessels  of  other 
powers  upon  the  s^me  foodng  as 
their  own  upon  condition  that 
American  vessels  were  placed 
upon  a  like  footing  in  the  ports  of 
those  powers. 

This  system,  which  at  the  same 
time  proffered  reciprocity  and  re- 
taliation, was  successful,  and  Eng- 
land, upon  the  termination  of  the 
late  war,  entered  into  a  treaty  of 
commerce  and  navigadon  with 
the  United  States  upon  terms  of 
reciprocity.  This  treaty  did  not 
extend  to  her  colonial  possessions, 
and  an  attempt  was  now  made  to 
render  the  intercourse  with  the 
West  Indies  subservient  to  the 
ancient  system  of  monopoly  and 
exclusion. 

The  American  merchants  soon 
felt  the  disadvantages  to  which 
they  were  subjected  in  the  direct 
trade,  in  consequence  of  being 
excluded  from  the  circuitous 
voyage,  and  exposed  to  the  com- 
petition of  vessels  on  their  return 
to  England  from  the  West  India 
Islands. 

Strenuous  efforts  were  accoixl- 
ingly  made  in  the  principal  sea- 


ports of  die  United  States  to  call 
the  attention  of  Congress  to  this 
state  of  things,  and  they  finally 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  (April  15th,  1818,) 
closing  die  ports  of  the  United 
States  against  British  vessels,  com- 
ing from  ports,  which  were  shut 
against  American  vessels,  and 
compelling  British  vessels  sailing 
from  the  United  States  to  give 
bonds  not  to  land  their  cargoes  in 
those  ports.  This  law  not  only 
put  an  end  to  the  circuitous  voy- 
age, but  also  tended  to  impede 
the  supplying  the  islands  with 
American  produce,  except  those 
colonies  where  the  vessels  of  both 
nadons  were  admitted. 

To  counteract  this,  the  British 
Government  immediately  opened, 
during  pleasure,  the  ports  of 
Halifax  and  St  Johns  to  the  ves- 
sels of  friendly  powers,  for  the 
introduction  of  articles  adapted  to 
the  West  India  market. 

It  thus  expected  to  secure  the 
greater  share  of  the  carrying 
trade  by  the  indirect  route  to  the 
W est  Indies,  solely  to  BriUsh  ves- 
sels. 

This  revocation,  during  plea- 
sure, was  not  deemed  by  the 
American  Government  as  a  suffi- 
cient modification  of  the  naviga- 
tion acts,  and  their  ports  continu- 
ed to  be  shut  to  British  vessels, 
coming  from  those  ports.  The 
distresses  of  the  islands  increas- 
ing, negouadons  were  commenc- 
ed on  the  part  of  the  British 
Government,  the  same  year,  with 
the  view  of  arranging  the  terms 
of  intercourse ;  but  as  it  insisted 
upon  laying  a  discriminaUng  duty 
in  favor  of  produce  imported  into 
the  West  Indies  from  the  northern 


COLONIAL  CONTROVERSY 


37 


colonies,  no  arra  ement  was 
made,  as  the  Araeri^an  Govern- 
ment refused  to  facilitate  the  ob- 
ject of  its  rival,  in  making  those 
colopj'es  places  of  deposit  for  the 
supply  of  her  islands. 

The  unsuccessful  termination 
of  this  negotiation  left  the  United 
States  no  alternative  but  that  of 
relinquishing  all  share  in  the  in- 
tercourse, or  to  meet  the  restric- 
tions by  countervailing  restrictions. 
They  chose  the  latter;  and  by 
the  law  of  May  15th,  1820,  all 
intercourse  with  the  colonies  in 
British  vessels  was  prohibited,  and 
the  importation  of  all  colonial 
produce  was  hmited  to  a  direct 
importation  from  the  place  of  its 
production.  This  put  a  stop  to 
the  trade  in  British  vessels,  and 
shut  the  produce  of  the  British 
West  Indies  from  the  American 
market. 

These  retaliating  measures  ope- 
rated so  severely  upon  the  British 
planters,  that  after  two  years  of 
suffering  the  government  at  home 
resolved  to  make  another  effort 
for  their  relief.  A  law  was  ac- 
cordingly introduced  into  Parlia- 
ment (act  of  June  24th,  1822,) 
by  which  admission  was  permitted 
to  foreign  vessels  into  certain 
specified  ports  in  the  West  Indies, 
with  certain  specified  articles,  the 
produce  of  the  country  where 
the  vessels  belonged. 

By  this  act  a  discriminating 
duty  of  ten  per  cent  was  laid  on 
foreign  produce  for  the  purpose 
of  encouraging  the  northern  colo- 
nies, and  British  vessels  had,  in 
addition  to  the  direct  intercourse, 
the  advantages  of  the  circuitous 
voyage,  which  was  only  permitted 
to  them. 

4* 


The  Colonial  Legislatures  also 
imposed  heavy  discriminating  du- 
ties, giving  a  decided  advantage 
to  British  tonnage.  In  this 
change  in  its  policy  the  Govern- 
ment aimed  to  encourage  the 
trade  between  the  northern  colo- 
nies and  the  West  Indies,  —  to 
give  to  her  tonnage  engaged  in 
the  direct  trade  between  the 
United  States  and  England  the 
advantage  growing  out  of  the 
combination  of  voyages, —  and  to 
monopolize  the  colonial  trade  by 
heavy  duties  in]  posed  upon 
American  vessels  by  the  legisla- 
tures of  the  islands. 

To  counteract  these  objects 
and  at  the  same  time  to  rae(;t 
England,  so  far  as  the  new  sys- 
tem savored  of  liberality,  a  pro- 
clamation was  issued  by  Mr  Mon- 
roe, 1822,  opening  the  ports  of 
the  United  States  to  British  ves- 
sels from  the  colonies,  but  confin- 
ing the  importations  from  the  isl- 
ands to  the  produce  of  the  West 
Indies,  and  continuing  the  dis- 
criminating tonnage  duty  of  one 
dollar  per  ton,  v/hich  had  been 
imposed  as  an  equivalent  to  the 
colonial  tonnage  duties. 

The  next  Session  of  Congress 
a  law  was  passed,  March  1st, 
1 823,  confining  the  British  ves- 
sels to  the  direct  trade  between 
the  United  States  and  the  colo- 
nies from  which  they  came,  in  the 
same  manner  that  the  American 
vessels  were  confined  by  the  co- 
lonial system  to  the  direct  trade 
between  the  LTnited  States  and 
the  colony  at  which  they  had  ar- 
rived. 

These  measures  produced  an 
order  in  Council,  July,  1823,  im- 
posing a  tonnage  duty  of  4s.  3d, 


38 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


on  American  vessels  trading  with 
the  colonies. 

American  navigation  was  thus 
subjected  to  a  disadvantage,  but 
still  the  trade  flourished ;  when 
the  British  Government  deemed 
it  expedient  to  adopt  a  new  sys- 
tem, permitting  the  importation 
into  certain  ports  in  the  West  In- 
dies of  the  produce  of  the  coun- 
try to  which  the  vessel,  bringing 
the  same,  belonged,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  salt  provisions,  muni- 
tions^f  war,  books,  whale  oil  and 
the  productions  of  the  Ea5t  and 
West  Indies.  The  exportation  of 
colonial  produce  was  also  permit- 
ted directly  to  the  country  to 
which  the  vessel  belonged. 

The  inland  importation  of  all 
produce  into  Canada,  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Nova  Scotia  was  also 
authorized. 

This  law,  which  was  passed 
July  5th,  1825,  aimed  to  make 
the  British  islands  depots  for  the 
.  supply  of  South  America,  and 
also  to  procure  supphes  for  the 
West  Indies  through  the  northern 
colonies.  It  was  altogether  in- 
operative upon  European  and  also 
upon  American  powers,  except 
upon  the  United  States,  in  refer- 
ence to  whose  trade  it  seemed  to 
have  been  framed,  and  with  the 
w'lew  of  terminating  the  colonial 
dispute  in  favor  of  England.  It 
was,  in  some  respects,  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  rigor  of  the  old  co- 
lonial system;  but  as  it  made  an 
invidious  distinction  between  pow- 
ers possessing  and  those  not  pos- 
sessing colonies,  the  American 
Government  could  not  accede  to 
its  terms  without  departing  from 
the  commercial  policy  adopted 
upon  the  organization  of  the  Gov- 


ernment. Under  these  circum- 
stances it  sought  to  arrange  the 
matter  by  an  agreement  :  prefer- 
ring that  mode  to  legislation, 
which  experience  had  shown  to 
be  productive  of  hostile  feelings. 
A  new  negotiation  was  accord- 
ingly commenced,  which  termi- 
nated unsuccessfully,  but  which 
fully  developed  the  views  and 
principles  of  the  respective  par- 
ties. 

The  British  Government  assert- 
ed that  any  participation  in  the 
colonial  trade  by  a  foreign  power 
was  a  boon  —  that  the  trade  was 
peculiar  to  hself,  and  to  be  regu- 
lated solely  by  the  laws  of  the 
parties  possessing  the  colonies, 
and  that  a  counteractive  measure, 
confining  British  vessels  to  the 
direct  voyage  between  the  colonies 
and  the  United  States,  was  an  in- 
jury and  a  deviation  from  the 
spirit  of  the  Convention  of  1815. 

The  American  Government 
admitted  the  right  of  England  to 
make  regulations,  opening  either 
in  whole  or  part,  the  colonial 
trade  ;  but  contended  that  it  was 
a  right  not  peculiarly  applicable 
to  that  trade,  but  one  which 
applied  equally  to  the  trade  with 
her  European  possessions,  and 
that  when  the  trade  between  the 
United  States  and  the  colonies 
was  to  be  opened,  it  belonged  to 
the  United  States  as  well  as  to 
England  to  establish  the  footing 
on  which  the  intercourse  was  to 
be  placed. 

The  principles  upon  which  the 
exclusion  from  the  colonial  trade 
was  justified,  were  not  applicable 
to  an  American  power.  They 
applied  solely  to  European  na- 
tions, and  were  derived  not  from 


COLONIAL  CONTROVERSY. 


39 


the  nature  of  things,  but  were  of 
arbitrary  invention,  and  intend- 
ed to  protect  artificial  interests  and 
an  unjust  monopoly  of  the  com- 
naerce  and  resources  of  the 
western  continent, 
"  The  American  Government, 
however,  was  so  desirous  of  ad- 
justing this  controversy  amicably, 
that  it  in  one  particular  swerv- 
ed from  the  strict  principle  for 
which  it  had  contended,  and  au- 
thorized Mr  Gallatin  to  waive  the 
question  respecting  the  discrimin- 
ating duty  in  favor  of  the  produce 
of  the  northern  colonies,  with  the 
exception  of  the  produce  of  the 
United  States  descending  the  St 
Lawrence  and  Sorrel. 

In  other  respects,  the  inter- 
course was  to  be  placed  on  a 
footing  strictly  reciprocal,  and  the 
American  Government  also  offer- 
ed to  abolish  all  restriction,  and 
to  permit  the  vessels  of  both  par- 
ties to  participate  upon  equal  terms 
in  all  intercourse  between  their 
respective  dominions  and  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

Before  Mr  Gallatin  (to  whom 
this  negotiation  was  committed) 
had  presented  his  credentials,  an 
order  of  Council  was  issued, 
closingthe  colonial  ports  against 
American  vessels  ;  and  the  British 
minister  (Mr  Canning)  then  at 
the  head  of  affairs,  always  un- 
friendly to  American  interests,  re- 
fused to  open  any  negotiation  with 
the  view  to  an  arrangement  of  the 
controversy. 

The  unsatisfactory  termination 
of  this  dispute  gave  to  the  oppo- 
shiona  good  opportunity  to  arraign 
the  conduct  of  die  last  administra- 
tion before  the  public,  and  it  was 
not  neglected.  It  was  accused 
of  an  undue  fondness  for  diplo- 


macy ;  of  an  inimical  feeling  to- 
wards England,  and  of  neglect- 
ing the  pubHc  business. 

The  loss  of  the  colonial  trade 
was  imputed  entirely  to  misman- 
agement, and  the  new  administra- 
tion came  into  power  under  strong 
assurances  on  the  part  of  its  friends, 
that  no  effort  would  be  spared  to 
induce  England  to  open  the  West 
India  ports  to  American  vessels. 

Accordingly,  shortly  after  the 
inauguration  of  General  Jackson, 
Mr  Louis  McLane  was  appointed 
minister  to  England,  with  special 
instructions  on  this  point.  The 
Secretary  of  State  in  these  instruc- 
tions after  narrating  the  events, 
which  led  to  the  suspension  of  the 
direct  intercourse,  stated  that  there 
were  three  grounds  on  which  the 
United  States  were  assailable  — 
1st,   in  their  '  too  long  and  too 
tenaciously  resisting  the  right  of 
Great  Britain  to  impose  protecting 
duties  in  her  colonies  ;  2d,  in  con- 
fining British  vessels  to  the  direct 
voyage  after  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  Parliament  of  1825;  and 
3d,  in  omitting  to  accept  of  the 
terms  offered  by  that  act.'  Mr 
McLane  was  instructed  to  obviate 
the  unfavorable  impression  pro- 
duced by  these  circumstances, 
and  to  enable  him  so  to  do,  he 
was  authorized  to  say  to  the  Brit- 
ish Government,  that  the  United 
States  would  recede  from  those 
grounds,  by  abolishing  the  discri- 
minating duties  on  British  vessels 
coming  from  the  colonies  ;  by  re- 
pealing the  provisions  of  the  act 
of  1823;  and  by  acceding  to  the 
terms  of  the  act  of  Parliament  of 
1825. 

The  instructions  then  proceed- 
ed to  say,  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment ought  not  to  object  to  enter- 


40 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829 30. 


ing  into  this  arrangement  on  ac- 
count of  the  omission  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  Slates  to 
accept  of  those  terms,  when 
formerly  offered — that  Mr  Mc- 
Ijane  knew  of  the  course  taken 
by  the  party  now  in  power,  in  re- 
ference to  the  policy  of  the  late 
administration  on  that  question, 
and  he  was  authorized  to  state  to 
the  British  Government,  that  the 
pretensions  of  that  administra- 
tion had  not  been  sustained  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and 
were  not  to  be  regarded  as  the 
views  of  the  Government.* 

Thus  authorized,  Mr  McLane 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
mission,  and  shortly  alter  his  ar- 
rival, he  communicated  to  the  Earl 
of  Aberdeen  the  grounds  upon 
which  he  desired  to  open  the  ne- 
gotiation. To  this  communication 
no  reply  was  made,  except  one 
generally  professing  a  friendly 
feeling  and  a  desire  to  amicably 
adjust  the  business.  The  verbal 
conferences  between  the  negotia- 
tors however  continued,  and  the 
Cabinet  at  Washington  felt  so  de- 
sirous of  regaining  the  trade,  that 
towards  the  close  of  the  session, 
the  following  message  was  sent  to 
Congress  by  the  President. 

'  To  tlie  Senate  and 

House  of  Representatives  of  the  U.  S, 
*  Gentlemen  :  I  think  it  my 
duty  to  inform  you  thati  am  daily 
expecting  the  definitive  answer  of 
the  British  Govemment  to  a  pro- 
position which  has  been  submitted 
to  it  by  this,  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Colonial  Trade. 

'  This  communication  has  been 
delayed  by  a  confident  belief  that 
the  answer  referred  to  would  have 
been  received  early  enough  to 
*Vide  Public  E 


have  admitted  of  its  submission  to 
you  in  sufficient  season  for  the 
final  action  of  Congress  at  its  pre- 
sent session  ;  and  is  now  induced 
by  an  apprehension  that,  although 
the  packet  by  which  it  was  intend- 
ed to  be  sent  is  hourly  expected, 
its  arrival  may,  nevertheless,  be  de- 
layed until  after  your  adjournment. 

'Should  this  branch  of  the  nego- 
tiation committed  to  our  Minister 
be  sucessful,  the  present  interdict 
would,  nevertheless,  benecessarily 
continued  until  the  next  session  of 
Congress,  as  the  President  has,  in 
no  event,  authority  to  remove  it. 

'  Although  no  decision  has  been 
made,  at  the  date  of  our  last  ad- 
vices from  Mr  McLane,  yet,  fronrt 
the  general  character  of  the  inter- 
views between  him  and  those  of 
his  Majesty's  Ministers,  whose 
particular  duty  it  was  to  confer 
whh  him  on  the  subject,  there  is 
sufficient  reason  to  expect  a  favor- 
able result,  to  justify  me  in  sub- 
mitting to  you  the  propriety  of  pro- 
viding lor  a  decision  in  the  recess. 

'  This  may  be  done  by  author- 
izing the  President,  in  case  an 
arrangement  can  be  effected  upon 
such  terms  as  Congress  would 
approve,  to  carry  the  same  into 
effect  on  our  part  by  proclamation, 
or,  if  it  should  be  thought  advisable 
to  execute  the  views  of  Congress 
by  like  means,  in  the  event  of  an 
unfavorable  decision. 

Any  information  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Executive,  which  you 
may  deem  necessary  to  guide 
your  deliberations  and  which  it 
may,  under  existing  circumstan- 
ces, be  proper  tc  communicate, 
shall  be  promptly  laid  before  you, 
if  required.  Andrew  Jackson. 
Washington,  26th  May,  1830. 

cuments,  p.  77. 


COLONIAL  CONTROVERSY. 


41 


This  message  was  committed  to 
the  committee  on  commerce,  the 
chairman  of  wliich  (MrCambre- 
leng)  reported  the  next  day  a  bill 
to  authorize  the  President  to  sus- 
pend or  to  repeal  by  proclamation 
the  acts  of  Congress  of  1818,1820 
and  1823,  whenever  he  could  be 
satisfied,  that  Great  Britain  would 
open  the  West  India  ports  for  an 
indefinite  "Or  a  limited  term  to 
American  vessels  from  the  United 
States,  subject  to  the  same  duties 
as  British  vessels  from  the  United 
States,  and  that  American  vessels 
would  be  permitted  to  carry  the 
produce  of  those  islands  to  all 
countries  except  British  posses- 
sions to  which  British  vessels  were 
permitted  to  carry  it.  The  ports 
of  the  United  States  were  then  to 
be  opened  to  British  vessels  from 
the  colonies  upon  the  same  terms 
as  American  vessels. 

This  bill  having  been  twice 
read,  Mr  Cambreleng  moved  a 
resolution  requesting  the  President 
to  communicate  to  the  House  such 
information  concerning  the  state 
of  the  negotiation  as  he  should 
think  advisable. 

This  resolution  was  agreed  to 
and  in  the  afternoon  a  secret  mes- 
sage was  sent  from  the  President 
communicating  some  information 
just  received  from  the  minister  at 
London.  This  information  was 
in  substance  an  account  of  the  pro- 
gress of  the  negotiations.  And  it 
induced  the  Houses  to  pass  the  bill 
without  delay — 105  ayes,  28 
nays. 

The  bill  was  then  sent  to  the 
Senate,  where  it  was  also  assented 
to,  and  having  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  President  it  became  a 
law,  and  was  forthwith  commu- 


nicated to  the  British  Government 
as  an  additional  proof  of  the  dis- 
position of  the  American  Govern- 
ment to  relinquish  the  stand  it  had 
hitherto  taken  on  this  question, 
and  the  Secretary  of  State  in  his 
letter  of  June  18,1830,  informing 
Mr  McLane  of  its  passage  in- 
structed him  to  so  represent  it  to 
the  British  Government.  It  was  so 
represented,  and  our  minister  in 
his  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen 
of  July  12th,  declared,  *  that  the 
law  conceded  in  its  terms  all  the 
power  in  the  regulation  of  the 
colonial  trade  to  Great  Britain, 
and  that  it  authorized  the  Presi- 
dent to  confer  on  British  vessels 
all  those  privileges,  as  well  in  the 
circuitous  as  the  direct  voyage, 
whch  Great  Britain  had  at  any 
time  demanded  or  desired.' 

These  concessions  were  at 
length  deemed  sufficient  by  the 
British  Government ;  and  on  the 
1 7th  August,  1 830,  an  answer  was 
given  by  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen, 
in  which  these  concessions  and 
abandonment  of  a  principle  long 
contended  for,  are  specifically 
recapitulated,  as  if  to  preclude  the 
United  States  from  again  insisting 
upon  it ;  a  construction  put  upon 
the  late  act  of  Congress  agreeable 
to  the  views  of  Great  Britain,  an 
intimation  given  that  the  British 
government  contemplated  an  aug- 
mentation of  the  duties  on  pro- 
duce imported  directly  from  the 
United  States  with  the  view 
of  encouraging  the  importation 
through  the  northern  colonies,  and 
finally  an  assurance  made  that  the 
carrying  into  effect  of  the  law  of 
Congress,  would  remove  all  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  the  renewal  of 
intercourse  on  the  footing  of  the 


'42 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


act  of  Parliament  of  1825.  Upon 
the  receipt  of  this  answer  at 
Washington,  the  President  issued 
a  proclamation  dated  October  5th, 
1830,  opening  the  ports  of  the 
United  States  to  British  vessels 
from  all  the  British  colonies  on  or 
near  the  North  American  conti- 
nent, and  declaring  the  acts  of 
Congress  of  1818, 1820  and  1823 
absolutely  repealed.  The  trade 
in  British  vessels  accordingly  at 
once  commenced,  and  on  the  5th, 
of  November  following,  the  British 
Government  by  an  order  of  coun- 
cil opened  the  colonial  ports  to 
vessels  of  the  United  States. 

The  tiontroversy  was  thus  ter- 
minated,and  although  the  principle 
of  reciprocity  was  so  far  given  up 
as  to  concede  to  Great  Britain  the 
tiircuitous  voyage,  as  well  as  the 
right  to  encourage  the  indirect 
importation  of  American  produce 
through  the  northern  colonies  by 
augmenting  the  duties  on  the  direct 
importation,  the  United  States  on 
their  part  gained  a  participation  in 
the  direct  intercourse  upon  terms 
of  reciprocity,  and  the  additional 
privilege  of  exporting  goods  from 
the  British  colonies  to  foreign 
countries.  The  controversy  resul- 
ted substantially  to  the  advantage 
of  American  interests  although 
the  principle  contended  for  by 
Great  Britain  prevailed. 

It  indeed  follows  from  the  na- 
ture of  things,  that  a  system  so 
entirely  artificial  as  the  colonial 
system,  and  so  contrary  to  the  in- 
terests of  all  American  States  can- 
not be  sustained  without  great  diffi- 
culty and  entirely  at  the  expense 
ef  the  colonial  power.  Experi- 
ence has  accordingly  shown  '  that 
restrictive  measures  have  not  been 


able  entirely  to  prevent  commer- 
cial intercourse  between  the  colo- 
nies and  the  United  States,  and 
such  is  the  advantageous  position 
of  an  independent  community, 
that  where  trade  has  been  permit- 
ted, much  the  greater  portion  of  it 
has  been  carried  on  in  American 
vessels.  When  the  direct  inter- 
course is  prohibited,  the  transpor- 
tation to  the  Danish  and  Swedish 
Islands,  through  which  importa- 
tions of  produce  are  made,  is  en- 
tirely confined  to  the  tonnage 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  when 
the  direct  trade  is  permitted,  the 
greater  proportion  of  it  is  engross- 
ed by  the  same  flag. 

Even  the  discriminating  duty  in 
favor  of  importations  from  the 
northern  colonies,  unless  so  great 
as  to  be  nearly  prohibitory,  can 
produce  but  little  effect  in  divert- 
ing the  trade  front)  the  direct 
route. 

The  system,  however,  is  still 
persisted  in  by  Great  Britain  ;  and 
directly  after  concluding  the  ar- 
rangement in  question  with  the 
United  States,  the  minister  pro- 
posed an  increase  of  nearly 
fifty  per  cent  in  the  duties  on 
American  produce  imported  into 
the  islands,  and  to  permit  their 
importation  into  the  northern  col- 
onies without  duty.  The  change 
in  the  ministry  itself  about  that 
time  prevented  that  measure  from 
being  carried  into  effect ;  and  time 
alone  can  determine  whether  in 
case  it  should  be  adopted,  it  will 
be  necessary  for  the  United  States 
to  adopt  other  counteractive  mea- 
sures in  place  of  those  repealed 
by  the  Proclamation  of  the  Presi- 
dent for  the  protection  of  their 
navigation  and  commerce. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Treaties  between  the  United  States  and  Chero'kees. —  Condition  of 
CheroJcees. —  Constitution  adopted  by  do.  —  Policy  of  Georgia. 
—  Views  of  Federal  Government.  —  Question  between  the 
Chero'kees  and  United  States. —  Conduct  of  Georgia.  — Pro- 
ceedings in  Congress.  —  Bill  reported  in  Senate.  —  Proceedings 
in  Senate.  —  In  House. — Passage  of  Bill. —  Character  of 
Bill 


One  of  the  most  embarrassing 
subjects  which  fell  under  the  cog- 
nizance of  the  new  administration, 
related  to  the  Indian  tribes  within 
the  limits  of  States  already  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union. 

In  the  Annual  Register  for  the 
years  1827-8-9  *  a  full  account 
was  given  of  the  peculiar  relations 
subsisting  between  those  tribes 
and  the  State  and  Federal  Gov- 
ernments. Some  embarrassment 
had  grown  out  of  the  different 
views  which  lately  began  to  be 
entertained  of  their  territorial  and 
civil  rights  by  the  authorities  of 
Georgia  and  by  those  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  ;  and  a  warm  and  an- 
gry controversy,  relative  thereto, 
had  commenced  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  administration  of  Mr  Mon- 
roe, which  continued  throughout 
that  of  his  successor.  An  account 
of  the  controversy  respecting  the 
Creeks  and  of  its  final  ad  justment 
by  a  treaty,  will  be  found  in  the 


1st  and  2d  volumes  of  the  Regis- 
ter. The  Cherokees  also  resid- 
ing in  Georgia,  however,  refused 
to  make  any  concessions,  and  de- 
termined resolutely  to  adhere  to 
their  rights  and  obligations,  as 
defined  by  the  treaties  already  in 
force.  Various  efforts  were  made 
to  induce  them  to  depart  from 
this  resolution,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  Georgia  was  loud  in  its 
threats  in  case  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment should  not  put  the  State 
in  possession  of  the  Cherokee 
country,  of  taking  the  matter  into 
its  own  hands.  All  attempts, 
however,  to  persuade  the  Chero- 
kees to  part  with  another  acre  of 
their  territory  proved  ineffectual. 
They  declared  that  they  had  al- 
ready reduced  their  limits  whhin 
reasonable  bounds ;  that  in  the 
expectation  of  becoming  a  people, 
they  had  relinquished  their  va- 
grant habits  and  devoted  them- 
selves to  agriculture,  and  to  the 


*  Vide  page  69.  lb. 


44 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  18-29  — 30. 


arts  of  civilized  life.  They  bad 
now  accustomed  themselves  to 
the  utensils,  the  food  and  the  hab- 
its of  the  white  man,  needed 
many  of  his  comforts  and  luxu- 
ries, professed  his  religion,  spoke 
his  language  and  had  adopted  his 
lavt^s  ;  they  must  advance  or  be- 
come extinct,  and  with  this  alter- 
native alone  in  view,  they  could 
not  consent  to  stop  short  in  their 
progress  in  civilization  and  to  put 
their  very  existence  at  stake  by 
exchanging  their  cultivated  coun- 
try for  an  unexplored  wilderness. 
The  expectation,  therefore,  of 
obtaining  possession  of  this  coun- 
try through  the  agency  of  the 
Federal  Government  was  relin- 
quished. It  had  manifested  a 
sincere  desire  to  comply  with  the 
compact  of  1802,  in  the  letter 
and  spirit ;  and  it  was  not  pre- 
tended that  an  agreement  to  ex- 
tinguish the  Indian  tide  '  when  it 
could  be  peaceably  done  on  rea- 
sonable terms,  bound  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  resort  to  force.  Be- 
sides, the  United  States  had  en- 
tered into  various  treaties  with  this 
tribe,  which  not  only  prevented 
the  Government  from  encroach- 
ing upon  its  territory,  but  com- 
pelled it  to  protect  them  from  the 
encroachments  of  others.  This 
Indian  tribe  formerly  was  a  pow- 
erful nation,  occupying  a  large 
tract  of  country  in  the  western 
parts  of  Georgia,  South  and  North 
Carolina,  and  extending  over  a 
large  part  of  the  old  Mississippi 
territory.  During  the  revolution 
they  took  part  together  with  most 
of  the  Indian  tribes  against  the 
United  States,  and  upon  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  w^th  Great  Brit- 
ain, the  great  southwestern  tribes 


still  continued  to  preserve  their 
hostile  attitude.  The  Creeks  and 
Cherokees,  who  were  allies, 
threatened  the  frontier  settlements 
of  Georgia  and  North  Carolina, 
and  as  these  States,  especially  the 
former,  had  undertaken  to  inter- 
fere in  an  unauthorized  manner 
with  Indian  affairs.  Congress  re- 
fused to  employ  th^  arms  of  the 
Confederacy  to  reduce  them  to 
submission,  unless  the  whole  pow- 
er of  establishing  the  terms  of 
peace  was  acknowledged  to  be- 
long to  that  body.  A  treaty  was 
finally  concluded  at  Hopewell,  in 
1785,  by  which  peace  was  re- 
stored, and  the  Cherokees  were 
received  into  the  favor  and  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States,  up- 
on certain  conditions,  viz  : 

All  prisoners  and  all  property 
were  to  be  restored. 

The  Indians  acknowledged 
themselves  to  be  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States  and 
of  no  other  sovereign. 

Their  hunting  grounds  within 
the  United  States  were  defin- 
ed and  a  boundary  line  allot- 
ted; and  it  vvas  agreed  that  if 
any  person  should  attempt  to  set- 
tle on  those  grounds,  he  should 
forfeit  the  protection  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  and  be  subject  to  the 
laws  of  the  Indians.  Provision 
was  made  for  the  punishment 
of  offenders,  for  the  regulation 
of  all  Indian  afl:airs  by  Congress 
and  for  the  representation  of 
the  Cherokee  Nation  in  that 
assembly  by  a  deputy  of  its  own  i 
choice. 

Peace,  however,  was  not  firm- 
ly established  by  this  treaty.  The 
citizens  of  Georgia  continued  to 
encroach  on  the  Cherokee  terri- 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


45 


lory,  and  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  (which  gave 
jurisdiction  over  Indian  commerce 
and  the  whole  treaty-making 
power  to  Congress,)  a  treaty  of 
peace  and  friendship  was  made  at 
Holston  in  1791,  by  which  the 
Cherokees  acknowledged  them- 
selves to  be  under  the  protection 
of  the  United  States  and  of  no 
other  sovereign,  and  stipulated 
not  to  make  any  treaty  with  any 
foreign  power,  individual  State, 
or  individuals  of  any  State. 
Prisoners  were  surrendered  and 
a  boundary  line  declared  '  be- 
tween the  ciuzens  of  the  United 
States  and  the  Cherokee  Nation,' 
and  the  United  States,  to  extin- 
guish their  claims  to  the  land 
north  and  east  of  the  boundary 
line,  agreed  to  pay  $1500  annu- 
ally to  the  '  Cherokee  Nation, 
which  relinquished  and  ceded 
their  right  to  the  said  land  ;  and  the 
United  States  also  agreed  solemn- 
ly to  guaranty  to  the  Cherokee 
Nation  all  their  lands  not  thereby 
ceded.'  It  was  further  agreed  that 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
should  have  the  free  use  of  a  road 
through  that  territory  and  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Tennessee  Riv- 
er ;  and  that  the  United  States 
should  have  the  right  of  regulating 
the  Cherokee  trade.  It  was  fur- 
ther stipulated  that  all  citizens 
setding  on  the  Cherokee  land 
should  forfeit  the  protection  of  the 
United  Slates  and  be  subject  to 
the  Cherokee  laws ;  that  no  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States  should 
attempt  to  go  into  the  Cherokee 
country  without  a  passport  from  a 
Governor  of  one  of  the  States  or 
a  person  authorized  by  the  Presi- 
dent ;  and  that  any  ciuzen  of  the 


United  States  committing  any 
offence  within  the  Cherokee  terri- 
tory should  be  punished  as  if  the 
same  had  been  committed  '  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  State  or 
District  to  which  he  may  belong, 
against  a  citizen  thereof.'  Pro- 
visions were  also  made  for  the 
improvement  of  ihe  condition  of 
the  tribe,  and  that  they  '  may  be 
led  to  a  greater  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  to  become  herdsmen  and 
cultivators,  instead  of  remaining 
in  a  state  of  hunters;'  and  the 
United  States  agreed  to  furnish 
gratuitously  implements  of  hus- 
bandry and  to  aid  them  in  their 
progress  towards  civilization. 

In  1798,  a  further  cession  of 
their  territory  was  made  by  the 
treaty  of  Tellico ;  the  annuity 
was  increased  to  $6000  and  the 
United  States  in  the  6th  article, 
agreed  to  continue  '  the  guarantee 
of  the  remainder  of  their  country 
forever.'  Other  treaties  were 
subsequently  made,  modifying 
from  time  to  time  the  boundary 
line;  and  one  in  1816,  permitting 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  navigate  the  rivers  within  the 
Creek  nation  ;  but  these  treaties 
did  not  in  any  respect  aker  the 
relations  subsisUng  between  them 
and  the  United  States.  On  the 
contrary,  all  the  former  treaties 
were  recognised  and  confirmed 
by  a  treaty  made  at  Tellico  in 
1805,  and  by  a  treaty  made  in 
1817  at  the  Cherokee  Agency. 
This  latter  treaty  was  made  with 
the  view  of  enabling  a  part  of  the 
nation  to  emigrate  beyond  the 
Mississipi,  and  all  former  treaties 
between  the  United  States  and 
the  Cherokee  nation  were  ex- 
pressly recognised  by  it  and  de^ 


46 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


c]are(^  lo  be  still  in  force  and 
binding  on  both  parties.  Relying 
upon  these  treaties,  the  Cherokee 
nation  determined  to  part  with  no 
more  territory,  and  availing'them- 
selves  of  the  advantages  held  out 
by  them,  they  had  under  the 
guidance  of  their  sagacious  chief- 
tains advanced  rapidly  in  civiliza- 
tion and  promised  soon  to  be  on 
a  footing  of  equality  with  the  sur- 
rounding whites. 

In  1827,  a  striking  advance  was 
made  by  their  discarding  in  a 
general  council  their  former  rude 
government,  which  was  based  on 
their  aboriginal  customs,  and 
adopting  a  written  constitution  for 
the  future  government  of  the  na- 
tion. This  constitution  was  in 
substance  as  follows.  The  first 
article  describes  the  boundaries 
of  the  nation  and  declares  that 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  govern- 
ment shall  extend  over  the  country 
within  the  described  boundaries, 
and  that  the  lands  therein  shall 
be  the  common  property  of  the 
nation,  but  the  improvements 
made  thereon  are  to  be  the  ex- 
clusive property  of  the  individual 
citizens  making  or  rightfully  pos- 
sessing the  same.  The  citizens 
of  the  nation  are  to  possess  no 
right  to  dispose  of  their  improve- 
ments in  any  manner  to  the  Uni- 
ted States,  individual  States  nor 
to  individual  citizens  thereof. 

The  second  article  divides  the 
Government  into  three  Depart- 
ments:  viz.  the  Legislative,  Ex- 
ecutive, and  the  Judicial,  and  pro- 
vides that  no  person  belonging  to 
one  of  these  departments,  shall 
exercise  any  of  the  powers  be- 
longing to  another  except  in  spe- 
cified cases. 


The  third  describes  the  nature 
and  powers  of  the  legislature. 
This  is  to  consist  of  a  Committee 
and  a  Council,  each  having  a  ne- 
gative on  the  other,  and  both  to 
be  styleid  '  the  General  Council  of 
the  Cherokee  Nation.'  The  Com- 
mittee is  to  consist  of  two  mem- 
bers from  each  of  the  eight  dis- 
tricts ;  and  the  council  of  three 
from  each  district  is  to  be  chosen 
by  the  qualified  electors  in  their 
respective  districts,  for  the  term' 
of  two  years.  All  free  male  citi- 
zens except  persons  of  African 
origin,  who  have  attained  the  age 
of  eighteen  years,  are  entitled  to 
vote  at  public  elections  and  are 
to  vote  viva  voce.  The  other  pro- 
visions of  this  article  need  not  be 
stated,  as  they  are  similar  to  those 
which  govern  legislative  proceed- 
ings in  the  States  of  the  Union. 

The  fourth  relates  to  the  ex- 
ecutive power.  This  is  vested  in 
a  Principal  Chief,  to  be  chosen 
by  the  General  Council,  and  to 
hold  his  office  four  years.  An 
assistant  Principal  Chief  is  to  be 
chosen  in  the  same  manner,  for 
four  years  ;  and  every  year,  three 
men  are  to  be  appointed  by  the 
General  Council,  to  be  associated 
with  the  assistant  Principal  Chief 
as  advisers  of  the  Principal  Chiefs. 

The  fifth  defines  the  nature 
and  power  of  the  Judiciary.  The 
Judicial  powers  are  vested  in  a 
Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  Cir- 
cuit and  Inferior  Courts  as  the 
General  Council  may,  from  time 
to  time,  establish.  Three  judges 
constitute  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  hold  their  commissions  for 
four  years,  but  any  of  them  may 
be  removed  from  office  on  the 
address  of  two  thirds  of  both 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


47 


houses  of  the  General  Council 
to  the  Principal  Chief.  The 
judges  receive  a  stated  compensa- 
tion and  are  not  to  receive  fees  or 
perquisites  of  office,  nor  to  hold 
any  other  office  of  profit  or  trust 
whatever.  They  are  appointed 
by  a  joint  vote  of  both  houses  of 
the  General  Council,  and  are 
eligible  only  within  the  ages  of 
thirty  and  seventy  years. 

The  rights  of  the  citizens  are 
secured  in  the  following  manner; 
In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the 
accused  shall  have  the  right  of 
being  heard,  of  demanding  the 
njvlure  of  the  accusation,  of  meet- 
ing the  witnesses  face  to  face,  of 
having  compulsory  process  for  ob- 
taining witness  in  his  favor  ;  and, 
in  prosecutions  by  indictment  or 
information,  a  speedy  public  trial 
by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  vicin- 
fige,  nor  shall  he  be  compelled  to 
give  evidence  against  himself. 

The  people  shall  be  secure  in 
their  persons,  houses,  papers  and 
possessions,  from  unreasonable 
seizures  and  searches,  and  no 
warrant  shall  issue  to  search  any 
place,  or  seize  any  person  or 
thing,  without  describing  them  as 
nearly  as  may  be,  nor  without 
good  cause,  supported  by  oath  or 
affirmation.  All^prisoners shall  be 
bailable  upon  sufficient  securities, 
unless  for  capital  offences,  where 
the  proof  is  evident  or  presump- 
tion great. 

The  sixteenth  article  declares, 
that  no  minister  of  the  gospel 
while  discharging  the  exercises  of 
his  functions,  shall  be  eligible  to 
the  office  of  Principal  Chief,  or 
a  seat  in  the  Legislature. 

No  person  who  denies  the  be- 
ing of  a  God,  or  a  future  state  of 
rewards  and  punishments,  shall 
hold  any  civil  office  in  the  nation. 


Universal  toleration  in  religion  is 
allowed. 

All  commissions  shall  be  in 
the  name  of  the  Cherokee  nation 
and  sealed  with  the  national  seal, 
and  be  signed  by  the  Principal 
Chief. 

No  person  shall,  for  the  same 
offence,  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy 
of  life  or  limb,  nor  shall  private 
property  be  taken  or  applied  to 
public  use  without  his  consent. 

The  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall 
remain  inviolate. 

Schools,  and  the  means  of  ed- 
ucation shall  be  encouraged  in  the 
nation. 

The  appointment  ^f  officers, 
not  otherwise  directed  by  the 
constitution,  is  vested  in\he  Le- 
gislature. 

The  adoption  of  this  constitu- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Cherokee 
nation,  by  extinguishing  the  ex- 
pectations, which  had  been  hith- 
erto entertained  of  effecting  the 
removal  of  this  tribe,  from  the 
State  of  Georgia  with  its  own 
consent,  induced  the  local  authori- 
ties to  assume  a  new  ground,  and 
to  hold  a  different  language,  both 
to  the  Federal  Government  and 
to  the  Indians  themselves.  It  had 
been  until  now  conceded,  that  the 
Federal  Government  had  the  en- 
tire jurisdiction  over  this  subject, 
and  the  Government  of  Georgia 
had  only  urged,  that  it  was  its  duty 
under  the  compact  of  1802,  to 
extinguish  the  Indian  tide  for  the 
use  of  Georgia  at  the  expense  of 
the  United  States.  It  now  assert- 
ed a  jurisdiction  over  the  whole 
matter,  and  undertook  to  pass 
laws  extending  its  criminal  and 
civil  jurisdiction  over  the  Indians 
within  its  limits,  by  virtue  of  its 
authority  as  a  sovereign  State. 
According  to  this  new  doctrine, 


48  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  18-29  —  30. 


the  Indian  territory  belonged  to 
Georgia  absolutely,  tbe  Cherokees 
were  tenants  at  her  will,  and  she 
had  the  right  at  any  time  to  de- 
termine that  tenancy,  by  taking 
possession  and  extending  her  au- 
thority over  the  tribe.  These 
principles,  so  novel  in  themselves, 
were  directly  contrary  to  the  es- 
tablished practice  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  in  violation  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Indian  Intercourse 
Act,  passed  in  1796,  and  continu- 
ed with  some  modifications  in  the 
details  by  the  act  of  1802,  which 
was  still  in  force.  By  this  law, 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
were  prohibited  from  going  into 
the  Indian  territory,  the  bounda- 
ries of  which  were  specified,  un- 
der pain  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment. Settling  upon  the  Indian 
territory,  or  surveying,  or  desig- 
nating boundaries  thereon,  was 
declared  punishable  by  fine  and 
imprisonment ;  and  the  President 
was  authorized  to  employ  the 
military  force  to  remove  persons 
intruding  on  the  Indian  lands,  and 
to  deliver  them  over  to  the  civil 
authorities  of  the  United  States. 
The  legislature  of  Georgia  in  1828 
had  advanced  principles  in  viola- 
tion of  this  act  by  way  of  resolu- 
tions, but  it  was  foreseen  that  so 
long  as  the  Federal  Government 
was  determined  to  preserve  its 
authority  inviolate,  these  declara- 
tions could  not  be  carried  into 
effect.  Similar  encroachments 
upon  the  federal  authority  had 
been  attempted  in  relation  to  the 
Creek  Treaty,  but  the  determina- 
tion expressed  by  Mr  Adams  to 
execute  the  laws,  and  his  orders 
to  the  military,  to  arrest  all  intru- 
ders upon  the  Creek  Territory, 


produced  their  proper  effect,  and 
after  many  threats,  the  State  au- 
thorities were  obliged  to  acquiesce 
in  the  calm  but  firm  decision  of 
the  Executive.  The  system  of 
threatening,  however,  was  not  de- 
parted from. 

In  1828,  the  State  Legislature 
passed  a  law,  to  take  effect  pro- 
spectively, extending  her  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  Indians.  In  1829. 
the  law  Vv-as  re-enacted  to  take 
effect  in  1830.  A  change  had 
now  taken  place  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, which  was  followed  by  a 
change  in  its  policy  towards  the 
Indian  tribes  within  the  United 
States,  and  the  States  of  Alabama 
and  Mississippi  .imitated  the  ex- 
ample of  Georgia.  These  States 
were  also  partly  occupied  by  In- 
dian tribes,  but  under  different 
circumstances.  The  right  to  the 
land,  after  the  extinguishment  of 
the  Indian  title,  became  vested  in 
the  LTnited  States  —  the  States 
being  created  by  act  of  Congress 
out  of  the  public  territory,  and 
bound  not  to  interfere  with  the 
public  lands.  In  Alabama  were 
the  Creeks,  a  portion  of  the 
Cherokees,  and  a  few  Choctaws 
and  Chicasaws.  These  two  latter 
tribes,  however,  chiefly  resided  in 
Mississippi,  and  their  relations  with 
the  United  States  were  in  the 
main,  similar  to  those  existing 
with  the  Cherokees.  They  were 
also  far  advanced  in  civilization. 

Almost  immediately  after  the 
inauguration  of  General  Jackson, 
communications  were  made  by 
the  Executive  to  the  Creeks  and 
Cherokees,  indicating  the  policy 
which  would  be  in  future  pursued 
toward  the  Indian  tribes,  and  the 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


views  entertained  by  him,  of  the 
relations  existing  between  them 
and  the  United  States. 

The  letter  to  the  Cherokee 
Council,  together  with  the  opinion 
of  tiie  Attorney  General,  and  the 
memorial  of  that  nation  to  Con- 
gress, and  other  documents  con- 
taining the  statements  of  both 
sides  of  the  question,  will  be 
found  among  the  Public  Docu- 
ments in  the  second  part  of  this 
volume.* 

From  these  papers  it  appeared, 
that  the  federal  administration 
conceded  to  Georgia,  full  power 
as  a  sovereign  State,  to  extend  her 
civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  over 
all  the  Indians  within  her  limits  ; 
and  that  the  treaties  made  with 
the  United  States,  so  far  as  they 
contravened  this  authority  by  guar- 
antying the  Indian  title,  were  not 
binding  upon  the  General  Govern- 
ment, inasmuch  as  it  had  not  a 
constitutional  right  to  make  such 
treaties.  It  was  also  asserted, 
that  the  Indian  title  was  only  a 
right  to  hunt,  and  consequently 
was  temporary  and  subject  to  be 
abridged,  whenever  the  country 
was  wanted  for  the  use  of  civiliz- 
ed man ;  that  the  right  guar- 
antied was  a  mere  right  of  pos- 
session, and  that  the  guarantee 
was  never  intended  to  be  adverse 
to  the  sovereign  right  of  Georgia. 

The  State  had  hitherto  been 
induced  to  forbear  to  act,  in  the 
expectation  that  some  satisfactory 
arrangement  would  be  made  ;  but 
the  course  adopted  in  creating  a 
Cherokee  Government  professing 
to  be  independent,  was  inconsist- 
ent with  the  political  system  of 


the  United  States,  and  well  calcu- 
lated to  excite  apprehensions  as 
to  the  extent  of  the  aboriginal 
claims.  The  attitude  thus  assum- 
ed by  the  Cherokee  Nation  was 
one  which  was  never  contempla- 
ted and  in  which  it  could  not  be 
sustained  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. 

The  Cherokee  chieftains  on 
their  part  contended,  that  the 
right  of  their  tribe  to  its  territory 
was  anterior  to  all  other  claims, 
and  had  been  recognised  by  the 
whites  and  guarantied  by  treaties  ; 
that  their  right  of  regulating  their 
domestic  affairs  was  equally  un- 
deniable and  had  never  been 
surrendered  ;  that  they  had  taken 
no  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States 
nor  of  the  compact  of  1802  with 
Georgia,  and  therefore  were  not 
bound  by  any  of  the  provisions  in 
those  instruments  or  any  construc- 
tion put  upon  them  ;  that  if  any 
difficulty  resulted  from  inconsist- 
ent obligations,  they  should  not  be 
affected  by  it ;  and  they  sugo;est- 
ed  that  it  v/as  easy  for  the  State 
and  Federal  Governments  to 
modify  the  compacts  between 
them  so  as  to  preserve  the  honor 
of  die  United  States,  and  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  a  people  whose  title  to  their 
territory  was  undeniable,  whose 
interests  were  becoming  identi- 
fied with  their  white  neighbors 
and  who  had  been  always  ready 
to  obey  their  call  as  friends  and 
allies. 

Had  ibis  controversy  been  con- 
fined to  these  parties,  no  difficulty 
probably  would  have  grown  out 


5* 


Vide  pages  123  —  145. 


50 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


of  the  dispute.  The  obligations 
of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  were  too  clear  to  permit 
any  encroachment  by  any  direct 
agency  upon  the  Cherokee  terri- 
tory. This  responsibility  was  as- 
sumed by  the  State  Government. 
The  act  of  Georgia,  which  was 
passed  December  20th,  1828,  * 
provided  for  a  division  of  the 
Cherokee  country  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  State  into  five  portions 
and  attached  them  to  the  five 
contiguous  countries.  The  laws 
of  Georgia  were  extended  over 
the  white  residents  within  the  ter- 
ritory and  the  Indians  w^ere  de- 
clared to  be  subject  after  the  first 
of  June,  1830,  to  such  laws  as 
the  Legislature  might  prescribe. 
The  Cherokee  laws  and  customs 
were  declared  to  be  void  after  the 
same  period,  and  all  Indians,  or 
their  descendants,  residing  within 
the  nation,  were  declared  to  be 
incompetent,  either  as  witnesses 
or  parties  in  a  suit  wherein  a 
white  man  was  a  party. 

The  harsh  and  arbitrary  char- 
acter of  this  law  excited  much 
feeling  throughout  the  country ; 
and  the  view  which  the  new  ad- 
ministration took  of  the  obligations 
of  the  United  States  towards  the 
Cherokees,  when  conflicting  with 
the  pretensions  of  Georgia,  gave 
good  ground  for  apprehension  as 
to  the  ultimate  fate  of  this  tribe. 
Meetings  were  held  in  various 
parts  of  the  Union  for  the  purpose 
of  remonstrating  against  the  con- 
struction given  by  the  Executive 
othe  treaties  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Cherokees.  The 
Federal  Government  was  declar- 
ed to  be  bound  to  protect  this 


tribe  from  the  encroachments  of 
Georgia.  The  guarantee  was  in- 
tended as  a  substantial  protection 
against  all  invasions  upon  the  ter- 
ritory reserved,  and  especially 
against  encroachments  under  the 
authority  of  States.  The  diffi- 
culties, which  had  grown  out  of 
the  doubts  as  to  the  authority  of 
Congress,  under  the  articles  of 
confederation  were  the  induce- 
ment to  invest  the  General  Govern- 
ment with  enlarged  authority  over 
this  subject  under  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  the  encroach- 
ments which  the  inhabitants  of 
Georgia  had  formerly  made  upon 
the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  —  en- 
croachments which  had  more 
than  once  produced  hostilities 
between  them  and  the  whites — 
were  the  chief  motives  to  giving 
the  guarantee  in  question. 

The  faith  of  the  nation  was 
therefore  plighted  to  these  tribes  ; 
,and  their  dependent  situation  gave 
them  a  strong  claim  upon  it,  re- 
quiring the  most  scrupulous  per- 
formance of  all  its  obligations. 
No  distinction,  drawn  from  the 
confederated  character  of  the 
Government,  could  be  regarded 
as  an  answer  to  these  claims. 
The  power  to  pledge  the  national 
faith  unquestionably  belonged  to 
the  National  Government ;  and 
whether  plighted  to  foreign  pow- 
ers, to  Indian  tribes  within  its 
limits,  or  to  its  own  citizens  in  a 
state  of  rebellion,  it  gave  a  sacred 
character  to  its  stipulations,  which 
rendered  their  performance  of 
paramount  impoitance.  The 
practical  construction  given  to 
these  treaties  for  forty  years, 
which  had  been  hitherto  undis- 


For  act,  vide  Domestic  Occurrences,  under  head  of  Georgia. 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


51 


puted,  the  provisions  of  the  Indian 
intercourse  act,  in  conformity 
with  that  construction  for  nearly 
the  same  time,  were  also  urged  as 
unanswerable  reasons  why  the 
Federal  Government  should  con- 
tinue to  afford  its  protection  to 
the  Cherokees  as  it  had  hitherto 
done  ;  and  a  strong  and  earnest 
appeal  was  made  to  Congress  to 
prevent  the  Government  of  Geor- 
gia from  carrying  into  effect  a 
law  so  injurious  to  the  natural 
rights  of  the  Indians  and  which 
was  a  direct  and  positive  violation 
of  tiiose  treaties.  This  appeal 
did  not  induce  the  administration 
to  forego  its  resolution  to  further 
the  designs  of  Georgia.  It  felt 
itself  strong  in  the  support  of  a 
powerful  party  in  the  country  and 
strong  indications  were  given  that 
the  viev/s  of  the  administration 
respecting  the  Indians  would  be 
sustained  by  a  large  portion  of 
that  party. 

The  government  of  Georgia 
however  felt,  that  the  harsh  and 
unjustifiable  steps  authorized  by 
the  act  of  1828,  could  not  be 
carried  into  effect  without  ex- 
citing a  torrent  of  public  feeling 
too  powerful  to  be  withstood. 
The  9lh  section  of  that  law, 
which  incapacitated  Indians  from 
appearing  in  any  character  in 
Court  was  particularly  objected 
to  as  violating  both  justice  and 
humanity.  An  act  was  therefore 
brought  in  at  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  to  repeal 
that  section  of  the  law  of  1828. 
This  new  act  incorporated  the 
Cherokee  country  with  the  ad- 
joining counties  and  extended 
the  criminal  and  civil  jurisdiction 
of  the  State  over  all  persons  in- 


habiting it.  It,  also  declared  all 
the  Cherokee  laws  void,  and 
rendered  it  criminal  to  carry  them 
into  effect  so  far  as  they  provided 
for  the  punishment  of  Indians  for 
selling  land  or  calling  or  attending 
a  Council  with  that  view.  It  was 
also  declared  a  misdemeanor  to 
dissuade  the  Indians  from  selling 
their  lands,  and  all  Indians  resid- 
ing within  the  Cherokee  territory 
were  rendered  incompetent  to 
testify  in  suits  where  a  white  man 
residing  out  of  the  nation  was  a 
party.  This  was  a  modification 
of  the  bill  of  1828,  and  permitted 
Indians  to  be  parties  in  suits  and 
witnesses  in  some  cases.  Most 
of  the  provisions  of  the  old  law 
however  were  left  still  in  force, 
and  the  Cherokees  were  in  great 
uncertainty  as  to  their  fate.  The 
States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi 
partially  followed  the  example  of 
Georgia  and  took  measures  to  ex- 
tend their  jurisdiction  over  the  In- 
dian territory  within  their  respect- 
ive limits.  The  Legislature  of  the 
former  in  1829,  passed  a  law  ex- 
tending the  jurisdiction  of  the 
State  over  the  Creek  nation  and 
authorizing  a  census  to  be  taken 
of  the  Indians.  The  law  of  Mis- 
sissippi, which  was  passed  in  1 830, 
declared  all  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges held  by  the  Indians  by  vir- 
tue of  their  own  customs  to  be 
abolished,  and  placed  them  upon 
'the  same  footing  as  the  free  white 
citizens  of  the  State.  The  laws 
of  the  State  w^ere  extended  over 
the  Indian  territory  and  it  was 
declared  to  be  punishable  by  fine 
and  imprisonment  to  exercise  any 
office  established  by  the  customs 
of  the  Indians.  The  passage  of 
these  laws,  together  with  the  un- 


52 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


conslitulional  course  of  Georgia, 
)3rodiiced  much  excitement,  and 
the  humane  throughout  the  coun- 
try were  alarmed,  lest  all  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Government  to  civilize 
them  should  be  rendered  abortive 
and  an  irreparable  injury  inflicted 
upon  the  character  of  the  country 
for  good  faith  and  humanity. 

There  was  no  ])rospect,  that 
the  Federal  Government  would 
interfere  to  prevent  the  execution 
of  this  law,  whether  it  was  con- 
strued to  be  an  infringement  of  the 
treaties  or  not.  The  President 
had  declared,  that  he  did  not 
deem  it  competent  for  the  Federal 
"Government  to  interpose  its  au- 
thority between  the  State  and  the 
Indians,  and  this  opinion  was  reit- 
erated in  his  message  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  21st  Congress.-''' 

The  late  attempt  of  the  Chepo- 
kees  to  establish  an  independent 
government  within  the  States  of 
Georgia  and  Alabama,  although 
the  natural  result  of  the  policy 
of  the  United  States,  he  declared 
to  be  inconsistent  with  our  politi- 
cal system,  never  contemplated  by 
the  Federal  Constitution  and  in 
which  they  could  not  be  sustained. 

He  had  informed  the  Chero- 
kees  that  Georgia  and  Alabama 
had  a  right  to  extend  their  laws 
overthem  and  that  the  Federal 
Government  could  not  interfere 
to  protect  them,  and  advised  them 
to  emigrate  beyond  the  Mississippi 
or  to  submit  to  the  State  laws. 
With  the  view  of  enabling  them 
to  subsist  as  an  independent  com- 
munity beyond  the  influence  of 
the  whites,  he  recommended  to 
Congress  to  set  apart  a  territory 


beyond  the  Mississippi  and  with- 
out the  limits  of  the  States,  to  be 
guarantied  to  tho  Indians  forever 
and  to  be  subject  to  no  other  con- 
trol from  the  United  States,  than 
what  was  necessary  to  maintain 
peace  and  tranquillity.    If,  how- 
ever, they  should  not  be  willing  to 
emigrate,  they  ought  to  be  in- 
formed that  they  must  submit  to 
the  state  laws,  and  he  had  informed 
them  that  the  Executive  of  the 
United  States  would  not  counte- 
nance them  jn  their  attempts  to 
establish  an  independent  Govern- 
ment.   This  subject  was  referred 
by  both  Houses  of  Congress  to 
their  respective  Committees  upon 
Indian  Affairs,  and  on  the  22d  of 
February,  1830,  the  committee 
of  the  Senate  made  a  long  re- 
port to  that  body,  approving  the 
recommendation  of  the  Execu- 
tive, accompanied  by  a  bill  to 
carry  it  into  effect.    A  similar  re- 
port and  bill  was  submitted  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the 
24th  of  February,  by  Mr  Bell,  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Indian  Affairs  in  that  body.  This 
bill  authorized  the  President  to 
set  apart  such  portion  as  he  should 
deem  necessary,  of  the  public 
territory  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
to  be  divided  into  districts,  for  the 
permanent  residence  of  the  emi- 
grating Indians.    The  President 
was  also  authorized  to  exchange 
these  districts  with  any  tribes 
thereof  residing  within  the  Uni- 
ted States,  for  the  land  occupied 
by  them,  and  to  assure  them  that 
the  United   States,  will  secure 
such  land  to  them  and  their  pos- 
terity forever  ;  and  a  patent  was 


*  Vide  Public  Documents,  page  16. 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


53 


to  be  granted  to  them  to  that  ef- 
fect. He  was  authorized  to  pay 
for  the  Indian  improvements  on 
the  exchanged  lands,  and  upon 
the  payment  of  die  appraised  vakie 
the  improvements  were  to  belong 
to  the  United  States.  He  w^as  to 
cause  the  emigrants  to  be  assisted 
in  removing  and  settling  in  their 
new  country,  to  provide  for  their 
sustenance  for  the  first  year  after 
their  removal  and  to  protect  them 
in  their  new  residence  against  all 
other  tribes  or  persons. 

The  same  care  and  superintend- 
ence which  the  President  exer- 
cised over  the  Indian  tribes  by 
virtue  of  the  acts  regulating  inter- 
course with  them,  he  was  to  con- 
tinue to  exercise  over  them  after 
their  removal,  and  the  sum  of 
^500,000  was  proposed  to  be  ap- 
propriated to  carry  the  provisions 
of  the  act  into  effect. 

This  bill  was  laid  on  the  table 
for  some  time  before  it  was  brought 
up  for  discussion.  The  subject 
however  was  often  agitated,  upon 
liie  presentation  of  petitions  from 
various  quarters,  urging  Congress 
to  take  means  to  preserve  the 
faith  of  the  naUon  inviolate.  The 
representatives  from  Georgia  were 
unusually  sensitive  whenever  this 
subject  was  agitated,  and  denounc- 
ed the  petitioners  as  impertinently 
interfering  with  their  local  con- 
cerns —  they  even  sought  to  pre- 
vent the  reading  of  the  petitions, 
and  when  information  was  required 
as  to  the  character  of  the  laws, 
which  Georgia  had  enacted  con- 
cerning the  Cherokees,  they  en- 
deavored to  divert  public  attention 
from  that  point  by  including  the 
laws  anciently  passed  in  other 
States,  in  an    entirely  different 


state  of  things.  The  resolution 
was  accordingly  so  modified  by 
the  administration  party  in  Con- 
gress as  to  call  for  the  old  laws  of 
States,  where  Indians  formerly 
lived,  as  well  as  for  those  of  the 
States  where  the  tribes  still  existed. 
In  answer  to  this  call  however  the 
most  obnoxious  law  of  Georgia, 
that  of  1828,  was  omitted  and  the 
whole  subject  was  not  fairly  laid 
before  Congress.  The  discussion 
of  the  bill  was  commenced  in  the 
Senate  on  the  sixth  of  April  by 
Mr  White,  the  chairman  of  the 
Indian  Committee,  who  explained 
the  objects  proposed  and  went 
into  an  examination  of  the  claims 
and  rights  of  the  tribes,  the  States 
and  the  General  Government. 
He  was  replied  to  by  Mr  Freling- 
huysen  who  sustained  with  great 
power  of  argument  and  eloquence 
the  claims  of  the  Indians,  and  the 
authority  of  the  United  States 
over  the  whole  matter.  The  dis- 
cussion was  further  continued  until 
the  24th  of  April  by  Messrs 
Forsyth,  Adams,  and  McKinley 
in  support  of  the  bill  and  by  Messrs 
Sprague  and  Robbins  in  opposition 
to  . 

Messrs  White  and  Frelinghuy- 
sen  again  took  part  in  the  debate 
and  various  amendments  were 
proposed,  which  together  with  the 
bill  itself,  were  decided  on  the 
24th  of  April. 

The  first  amendment  proposed 
by  Mr  Frelinghuysen  was  to  pro- 
vide for  the  protection  of  the  In- 
dians in  their  present  possessions, 
until  they  chose  to  remove,  and  in 
the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights  of 
territory  and  government  as  here- 
tofore exercised.  It  also  provided 
that  before  the  removal  or  ex- 


54 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


change,  the  rights  of  the  tribe 
should  be  guarantied  by  treaty  as 
formerly. 

This  amendment  was  rejected 
by  a  party  vote  of  27  to  20,  all 
the  administration  members  ex- 
cept one  from  Pennsylvania  voting 
in  the  negative,  and  all  the  oppo- 
sition except  two,  in  the  affirma- 
tive. On  the  second  part  of  this 
amendment,  the  vote  stood  28  to 
19,  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania 
voting  with  his  party. 

An  amendment  was  then  pro- 
posed by  Mr  Sprague,  providing 
for  their  protection  in  their  pre- 
sent possessions  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  rights  of  territory 
and  government  according  to  the 
true  intent  and  meaning  of  the 
treaties  until  they  should  choose 
to  remove ;  which  w^as  rejected 
by  the  same  vote,  20  affirmative, 
27  negative. 

Mr  Frelinghuysen  then  offered 
an  amendment  providing,  that  the 
act  should  not  be  construed  so  as 
to  authorize  a  departure  from,  or 
the  non-observance  of,  any  com- 
pact or  treaty  then  existing  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the 
Cherokees.  This  was  also  re- 
jected by  the  same  vote.  Mr  Sand- 
ford  then  offered  an  amendment, 
authorizing  a  similar  exchange  of 
lands  with  Indians,  who  occupied 
lands  of  which  the  pre-emption 
right  belonged  to  a  State  instead 
of  the  United  States,  and  this 
being  amended  by  Mr  Woodbury 
so  that  the  expense  should  not  be 
charged  to  the  United  Slates,  was 
rejected  37  to  10. 

The  bill  was  then  passed,  28  to 
19,  every  Senator  voting  as  be- 
fore, except  the  administration 
Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  who 


voted  with  the  majority.  Ott 
Monday,  the  26th  of  April,  the  bill 
was  carried  to  the  House,  where 
Mr  Bell  moved,  after  it  had  been 
twice  read,  that  it  should  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  of  the 
whole  House  on  the  State  of  the 
Union  and  objected  to  its  being 
referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Indian  affairs,  because  it  was  simi- 
lar to  the  bill  already  reported  by 
that  Committee.  That  course 
having  been  taken,  it  remained 
on  the  table  until  the  13th  of  May, 
when  Mr  Bell  moved,  that  the 
special  orders  of  the  day  be  post- 
poned with  the  view  of  taking  up 
the  Indian  bill.  This  motion  pre- 
vailed and  the  discussion  was 
commenced  in  the  Committee  of 
the  whole  House  by  Mr  Bell, 
who  explained  the  objects  of  the 
bill  and  advocated  its  policy  at 
length.  He  was  followed  by  Mr 
Storrs,  who  condemned  the  bill 
as  a  violation  of  good  faith  and  as 
countenancing  the  violent  course 
of  Georgia.  The  discussion  was 
continued  until  the  19th  of  May, 
by  Messrs  Lumpkin,  Foster, 
Wilde  and  Lamar,  all  from  Geor- 
gia, in  favor  of  the  bill,  and  by 
Messrs  Ellsworth,  Evans,  Hunt- 
ington, Johns,  Bates  and  Everett, 
against  it.  The  advocates  of  the 
bill  contended,  that  the  title  of  the 
Indians  to  the  territory  they  claim- 
ed was  necessarily  temporary 
and  must  yield  to  the  claims  of 
civilized  man,  whenever  the  land 
was  needed  for  cultivation  ;  that 
the  Deity  made  the  earth  to  be 
cultivated  and  improved,  and  that 
it  would  be  preposterous  to  per- 
mit large  tracts  of  country,  suffi- 
cient for  the  accommodation  of  a 
numerous  population,  to  be  re- 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


55 


served  merely  as  a  hunting  ground 
for  a  few  wandering  savages. 
This  view  of  the  Indian  title  had 
always  been  taken  by  the  Euro- 
pean powers  ;  it  had  been  sanc- 
tioned by  the  uniform  practice  of 
the  Colonial  Governments ;  by 
the  decisions  of  the  Federal  and 
State  Courts  and  was  taken  by 
our  commissioners  at  Ghent  in 
resisting  the  pretensions  of  Eng- 
land in  behalf  of  her  Indian  al- 
lies. As  to  the  Cherokee  claims 
under  the  treaties,  they  denied 
that  the  treaties  were  binding ; 
first,  because  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment was  not  authorized  to  treat 
with  Indians,  although  a  different 
practice  had  sprung  up  through 
inattention  ;  and  even  if  authorized 
to  treat,  the  States  were  secured 
by  the  Constitution  from  the  erec- 
tion of  any  new  State  within 
their  several  jurisdictions,  without 
the  consent  of  the  State  concern- 
ed, and  therefore  the  treaties  were 
void  so  far  as  they  stipulated  to 
guaranty  the  territory  to  the  Cher- 
okees  or  in  any  manner  for  their 
existence  as  a  distinct  community. 
The  condition  of  the  Indians 
themselves,  they  asserted,  would 
be  improved  by  removal,  and 
their  reluctance  to  cede  their  ter- 
ritory was  declared  to  be  solely  ow- 
ing to  a  few  whites  and  half  breeds 
who  resided  among  them  and  ex- 
ercised a  controlling  influence 
in  their  councils.  They  were  now 
surrounded  by  frontier  settlers 
and  the  only  intercourse  they  had 
with  the  white  men,  imparted  to 
them  the  vices  and  not  the  virtues 
of  civilization.  Their  laws  and 
customs  were  still  savage,  and 
while  their  continuance  in  their 
present  location  was  a  detriment 


and  incumbrance  to  the  States 
where  they  resided,  it  was  also  a 
positive  disadvantage  to  the  In- 
dians themselves,  who  were  grad- 
ually wasting  away  under  the 
deteriorating  influence  of  idleness 
and  intemperance.  It  was  also 
said,  that  this  bill  did  not  contem- 
plate any  forcible  removal  of  the 
Indians,  but  merely  to  aflbrd  them 
aid  in  emigrating. 

On  the  other  side  it  was  con- 
tended that,  however  undetermi- 
nate  and  temporary  might  have 
been  the  original  title  of  the  In- 
dians to  their  territory,  it  was  ca- 
pable of  being  changed  into  a 
tide  as  valid  and  definite  as  that 
of  a  civilized  community  to  soil 
occupied  by  its  citizens  :  that  this 
had  been  done  by  the  treaties 
concluded  with  these  tribes  with 
the  view  of  attaching  them  to  their 
country  as  a  civilized  people,  and 
the  faith  of  the  United  States  was 
now  pledged  to  respect  that  title 
and  to  secure  iliem  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  territory. 

The  Indian  tide  had  always 
been  respected  by  the  American 
Government ;  and  although  it  had 
been  customary  for  the  Indians  to 
relinquish  from  time  to  time  por- 
tions of  their  territory,  it  had 
never  been  contemplated  to  re- 
move them  endrely  without  their 
consent.  On  the  contrary,  ef- 
forts had  been  made  by  the  Gene- 
ral Government  to  change  their 
habits  and  to  fix  them  to  the  soil 
as  a  civilized  people.  Such  was 
the  object  of  tlie  treaties  which 
were  concluded  by  the  Federal 
Government  with  the  sanction  of 
Georgia  herself.  The  ground 
now  taken  concerning  their  un- 
consdtutionality  was  entirely  new 


56 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


and  inconsistent  with  the  uniform 
practice  of  the  Government  ever 
since  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution, which  had,  and  in  refer- 
ence to  this  very  pretension,  pro- 
hibited States  from  entering  into 
any  treaty,  and  conferred  upon 
the  General  Government  the  ex- 
clusive power  of  making  treaties, 
of  regulating  Indian  commerce 
and  of  repelling  Indian  encroach- 
ments. The  whole  power  was 
thus  vested  in  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  it  had  in  conformi- 
ty with  this  power  proceeded  to 
make  treaties  with  the  Indian 
tribes  under  every  administration, 
and  almost  every  year  of  its  ex- 
istence as  a  National  Government, 
without  the  slightest  objection  on 
the  part  of  a  State,  or  any  inti- 
mation that  such  a  course  was 
unauthorized  by  the  Constitution. 
The  Senate  had  sanctioned  these 
treaties  session  after  session  ;  Con- 
gress had  made  appropriations 
and  passed  laws  to  give  effect  to 
their  stipulations,  and  the  whole 
practice  of  the  Government  had 
been  in  conformity  with  tlie  prin- 
ciple that  the  whole  subject  was 
exclusively  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Federal  Government.  In 
the  belief  that  this  was  so,  the 
Indian  tribes  had  entered  into 
treaties,  had  ceded  lands  and  re- 
linquished claims.  The  Federal 
Government  had  accepted  of 
these  cessions;  the  States,  and 
especially  Georgia,  had  derived 
benefit  from  them  and  had  acted 
as  if  they  were  valid  ;  and  the 
pretension  that  the  treaties  were 
void,  because  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment had  not  been  vested  with 
power  to  make  them,  was  not  only 
unsound  in  itself,  but  was  repug- 


nant to  every  principle  of  fairness 
and  justice.  It  was  a  fraud  upon 
the  Indians  and  would  be  so  re- 
garded by  the  civilized  world. 
The  faith  of  the  country  was 
pledged  to  these  dependent  and 
helpless  tribes,  and  public  opinion 
would  exact  a  full  compliance 
with  its  engagements.  These 
engagements  were  not  only  to 
guaranty  their  territory,  but  to 
aid  them  to  become  a  civilized 
people.  Relying  upon  this  prom- 
ise, the  Indians  had  relinquished 
their  savage  habits.  They  were 
no  longer  fitted  to  procure  their' 
subsistence  by  hunting.  They 
were  agriculturists.  They  had 
farms  and  cattle,  and  essentially 
lived  like  their  white  neighbors. 
They  perhaps  were  not  so  much 
advanced  in  civilization  ;  but  they 
had  undeniably  made  great  pro- 
gress, and  they  could  not  relapse 
into  a  state  of  barbarism  unless 
by  a  change  of  policy  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States.  To  that 
policy  they  were  indebted  for  their 
elevation,  and  its  effects  were  seen 
in  an  entire  change  in  the  habits 
and  character  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. The  increase  of  their 
numbers  within  a  few  years,  the 
commerce  they  began  to  carry  on 
with  the  neighboring  States  ;  the 
establishment  of  a  newspaper 
among  them,  the  institution  of 
their  form  of  government,  and  the 
orderly  and  moral  character  jof 
the  tribe  were  all  proofs  of  the  ef- 
ficacy of  this  policy,  and  so  many 
testimonials  to  the  good  faith  and 
benevolence  of  the  American 
Government. 

That  such  was  the  actual  con- 
dition of  the  southern  tribes,  ap- 
peared not  only  by  the  accounts 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


57 


from  the  missionaries  dwelling 
among  them,  but  by  the  reports 
of  the  public  agents  themselv^es ; 
and  Congress  was  adjured  not  to 
suffer  itself  to  be  driven  from  a 
policy  which  had  produced  such 
beneficent  results  by  intemper- 
ate denunciation,  and  threats  of 
State  authorities.  To  the  ar- 
gument urged,  that  this  bill  did 
not  contemplate  coercive  mea- 
sures, it  was  replied  that,  although 
it  did  not  directly  authorize  coer- 
cion, its  object  was  to  appropriate 
a  sum  of  money  to  co-operate  with 
the  States,  in  the  compulsory 
removal  of  the  tribes.  Some  of 
the  States,  and  especially  Geor- 
gia, had  long  aimed  at  that,  and 
had  been  prevented  only  by  the 
authority  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment from  carrying  this  design 
into  effect.  They  had  lately 
passed  laws  depriving  the  Indians 
of  their  rights  as  secured  by  trea- 
ties, and  rendering  it  impossible 
for  them  to  continue  in  their  pres- 
ent abode  without  submitting  to 
the  most  degrading  conditions. 
The  President  upon  that  informs 
them  that  he  cannot  and  will  not 
protect  them  from  the  operation 
of  these  laws  ;  and  upon  the  as- 
,  sembling  of  Congress,  recom- 
mends this  bill  to  facilitate  their 
removal.  This  is  directly  abet- 
ting coercive  measures  to  remove 
them,  and  renders  the  Federal 
Government  responsible  for  the 
new  policy  now  adopted  toward 
them.  The  measure  itself,  in  its 
effects  on  the  Indians,  was  also 
severely  criticised.  The  territo- 
ry which  was  offered  for  their  re- 
ceptions was  declared  to  be  cold, 
sterile  and  scarcely  inhabitable. 
The  experiment  which  had  been 


made  with  a  part  of  the  Chero- 
kees  had  not  proved  successful. 
Scarcely  had  they  settled  in  their 
new  abode  when  they  were  re- 
quired to  remove  still  further,  to 
accommodate  the  people  of  Ar- 
kansaw,  and  it  was  predicted  that 
such  would  be  the  fate  of  all  the 
tribes  who  might  consent  to  emi- 
grate beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Their  only  chance  to  preserve 
their  existence  as  a  people  was, 
by  remaining  among  the  whites 
and  not  by  receding  from  them. 
By  accustoming  themselves  to  the 
habits  of  civilized  life  and  to  the 
presence  of  white  men,  they  might 
escape  extinction  ;  but  how  could 
they  hope  to  recede  from  a  na- 
tion which  had  already  reached 
the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
which  would  soon  pass  the  sum- 
mits of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ? 
The  pledges  now  offered,  not 
again  to  disturb  them,  could  af- 
ford no  security.  No  pledges 
could  be  stronger  than  those  they 
now  had  in  the  treaties,  and  at 
some  future  time  the  same  plea 
of  convenience  or  necessity  would 
be  used  to  justify  a  new  violation 
of  national  faith.  The  precedent 
would  be  on  record,  and  when 
once  a  Government  violates  her 
plighted  faith,  the  rubicon  is  pass- 
ed and  her  course  thereafter  is 
one  of  dishonor  and  broken  en- 
gagements. 

These  objections  however  were 
disregarded,  and  after  a  discussion 
in  the  committee  of  the  whole, 
which  lasted  five  days,  the  bill 
was  reported  to  the  House  on  the 
19th  of  May.  There  the  discus- 
sion was  renewed,  and  an  amend- 
ment by  Mr  Storrs  was  proposed, 
prohibiting  the  occupation  or  pur« 


58  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


chase  of  the  lands  or  claims  of 
any  individual  Cherokee,  without 
the  consent  of  the  tribe  by  treaty. 
The  20th  and  21st  of  May,  had 
been  set  apart  for  special  business, 
and  although  the  Chairman  of  the 
Indian  Committee  moved  each 
day  to  postpone  the  order  of  the 
day  with  the  view  of  proceeding 
with  the  Indian  bill,  the  House 
refused  to  suspend  the  rule  — 
yeas  107,  nays  88.  It  requir- 
ing a  vote  of  two  thirds,  to  carry 
the  motion. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  the  Indian 
bill  was  again  taken  up,  and  the 
previous  question  having  been 
demanded,  a  call  of  the  House 
was  made,  when  196  members 
answered  to  their  names  —  17 
only  being  absent. 

The  previous  question  was  not 
seconded,  only  78  members  rising 
in  favor  of  it,  and  Mr  Storrs' 
amendment  again  came  under 
consideration,  when  after  some 
discussion,  Mr  Storrs  withdrew 
his  amendment,  with  the  view  of 
giving  Mr  Hemphill  an  opportu- 
nity to  offer  an  amendment.  The 
discussion  was  again  renewed  on 
the  bill  and  Mr  Desha  again  de- 
manded the  previous  question, 
which  was  not  seconded,  93  affir. 
and  99  negative. 

The  discussion  was  continued 
until  about  8  o'clock,  when  the 
amendment,  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  whole  —  viz.  that 
in  executing  the  provisions  of  the 
bill,  the  faith  of  treaties  with  the 
Indians  should  not  be  violated, 
was  concurred  in — 141  ayes, 
53  nays. 

Mr  McDuffie  then  rose  and 
said,  he  was  satisfied  it  was  the 

mn  duty  of  the  House  to 


come  to  a  decision  on  this  subject. 
He  was  not  going  into  the  argu- 
ment, but  he  wished  to  say  that 
this  was  a  practical  question. 
Whatever  we  may  think  here,  said 
he,  the  State  of  Georgia  had  as- 
sumed an  attitude  from  which  she 
will  not  shrink  ;  and  if  we  refuse 
to  exercise  the  power,  which  we 
may  constitutionally  assume  on  this 
question,  the  guilt  of  blood  may 
rest  upon  us.  I  demand  the  pre- 
vious question.  This  was  not 
seconded ;  the  House  dividing 
97  affir.  98  neg.  Mr  Hemphill 
then  rose  to  propose  a  substhute 
for  the  bill,  which  was,  to  provide 
for  the  appointment  of  three  com- 
missioners by  the  President  and 
Senate,  not  to  be  residents  of  any 
of  the  States  immediately  interest- 
ed, who  should  go  through  the 
Indian  tribes,  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  ascertain  their  disposi- 
tion to  emigrate  ;  then  to  explore 
the  country  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  ascertain  the  quality 
and  extent  of  the  country  which 
could  be  offered  to  the  Indians, 
in  exchange  for  their  lands  east  of 
the  river  ;  whether  it  was  adapted 
to  the  agricultural  and  hunting 
pursuits  of  Indians  ;  and  on  what 
terms  they  would  make  the  ex- 
change, dispose  of  their  improve- 
ments, he,  and  remove  ;  and  re- 
port the  whole  to  the  President, 
to  be  laid  before  Congress  at  its 
next  Session,  with  an  account  of 
the  value  of  the  lands  belonging 
to  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mississip- 
pi, their  present  state  of  culti- 
vation, the  number  of  schools  and 
churches,  and  of  the  scholars  and 
members  in  the  same  ;  the  pre- 
sent moral  and  political  condition 
of  the  Indians,  and  the  nature  and 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


5!^ 


extent  of  their  commerce,  and 
also  an  estimate  of  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  the  removal  and  main- 
taining the  tribes  one  year  after 
their  removal,  and  appropriates 
:J30,000  to  carry  the  provisions 
into  effect.  Mr  Hemphil!  said  it 
was  not  his  intention  to  go  into 
a  discussion  of  the  bill.  But  this 
had  been  called  a  party  question, 
and  the  advocates  of  the  bill  had 
appealed  to  the  friends  of  the 
administration  to  support  the  Pre- 
sident in  this  measure.  He  de- 
nied that  party  feelings  influenced 
him.  The  President  had  not  a 
better  friend  than  himself  in  the 
whole  nation  ;  but  on  a  question, 
involving  as  this  did,  the  moral 
and  political  character  of  the 
country,  he  could  not  yield  up  his 
own  judgment  to  his  regard  for 
the  President.  Mr  H.  then  briefly 
explained  the  object  of  his  amend- 
ment, which  was  to  obtain  full  in- 
formation, and  enable  Congress 
to  act  understandingly,  on  this 
important  question.  The  original 
bill  proposed  to  place  half  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars  in  the  hands  of  the 
Executive  to  effect  a  removal  of 
the  Indians.  This  was  too  great 
a  responsibility  for  any  Executive. 
The  house  should  take  the  mea- 
sure into  its  own  hands,  and  indi- 
cate the  mode  and  manner  in 
which  it  should  be  effected. 

Mr  Thompson,  of  Georgia,  said 
he  had  forborne  to  take  up  the  time 
of  the  House  in  delivering  his 
views  at  large  on  the  bill,  and 
be  was  therefore  privileged,  he 
thought,  in  again  demanding  the 
previous  question  (which  would 
of  course  put  by  the  amendment.) 
Accordingly,  Tellers  were  ap- 
pointed to  count  the  House,  who 


reported  98  in  favor  of,  and  98 
against  the  previous  question. 
The  Speaker  voted  in  the  affirm- 
ative —  and  the  motion  for  the 
previous  question  was  seconded. 
Mr  Miller  then  moved  to  postpone 
the  bill,  but  the  motion  was  nega- 
tived—  94  ayes,  103  nays.  Mr 
Bates  moved  to  adjourn,  in  order 
to  give  an  opportunity  to  a  gentle- 
man absent  from  indisposition  to 
vote,  but  the  motion  was  lost  — 
84  ayes,  112  nays. 

The  previous  question  was  then 
put,  and  the  House  being  equally 
divided,  99  affir.  and  99  neg.,  the 
Speaker  voted  in  the  affirmative, 
and  the  main  question  was  order- 
ed, which  was,  shall  the  bill  be 
read  a  third  time  }  . 

On  this  question  the  House  di- 
vided, 102  ayes,  97  nays,  and  it 
being  late  in  the  night,  a  motion 
for  adjournment  finally  prevailed. 

The  next  day  the  subject  was 
resumed,  when  Mr  Hemphill  mov- 
ed, that  the  bill  be  recommitted, 
with  instructions  to  amend  it,  as 
he  had  proposed  to  amend  it  the 
day  before. 

With  the  view  of  preventing 
this  motion  from  being  put,  Mr 
Bell  moved  the  previous  question, 
which  was  again  seconded  after 
a  call  of  the  House  by  the  casting 
vote  of  the  Speaker  96  affir.,  96 
neg. 

Upon  putting  the  previous  ques- 
tion however,  it  was  negatived,  98 
affir.,  99  neg. 

The  effect  of  this  decision  was 
to  remove  the  bill  from  before  the 
House  for  the  days  which  were 
devoted  to  other  business.  The 
26lh,  the  bill  was  again  taken  up, 
and  Mr  Hemphill's  motion  being 
still  pending,  the  previous  question 


GO 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


was  again  demanded,  and  after 
having  been  seconded,  98  affir., 

96  neg.,  was  carried,  101  affir., 

97  neg. 

The  question  on  the  passage  of 
the  bill  was  then  put  and  decided 
in  the  affirmative,  102  ayes,  97 
nays.  The  bill  having  been  thus 
forced  through  the  House  by  the 
strength  of  the  friends  of  the  ad- 
ministration, was  sent  to  the  Sen- 
ate for  its  concurrence  in  the 
amendments  of  the  House. 

The  first  amendment  whi^h 
was  one  of  form,  having  been 
concurred  in.,  a  motion  was  made 
by  Mr  Frelinghuysen  to  amend 
the  2d  amendment  in  relation  to 
the  observance  of  treaties,  by  ad- 
ding a  provision  to  protect  the 
tribes,  from  all  State  encroach- 
ments, until  they  chose  to  remove. 

This  motion  was  negatived,  17 
ayes,  26  nays. 

An  amendment  offered  by  Mr 
F.  to  provide  for  their  protection 
according  to  the  provisions  of  the 
treaties  was  also  rejected,  18 
ayes,  24  nays.  Mr  Sprague 
then  moved  an  amendment  de- 
claring, that  the  treaties  should  be 
fulfilled  according  to  their  true 
intent  and  meaning,  which  w^as 
rejected  by  the  same  vote,  as  was 
also  an  amendment  offered  by  Mr 
Clayton,  to  confine  the  provisions 
of  the  act  to  the  Indians  residing 
within  the  slate  of  Georgia.  The 
second  amendment  was  then  con- 
curred in  by  the  Senate,  and  the 
bill,  after  receiving  the  sanction  of 
the  President,  became  a  law. 

The  passage  of  this  bill  con- 
nected with  the  course  taken  by 
the  President  in  relation  to  the 
Indians,  formed  an  era  in  the  po- 
licy of  the  United  States  respect- 
ing the  aboriginal  tribes. 


On  the  face  of  the  law,  with 
the  exception  of  that  section,  au- 
thoj  izing  the  purchase  of  improve- 
ments from  individual  Indians  in- 
stead of  a  council  of  the  tribe, 
there  was  nothing  to  which  any 
serious  objection  could  be  urged. 
It  purported  to  be  a  law  to  aid  the 
Indians  in  emigrating  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  and  did  not  contem- 
])late  any  other  than  a  voluntary 
removal. 

But  in  connexion  with  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  legislatures  of 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississip- 
pi, and  the  construction  put  by  the 
President  on  the  constitutional 
powers  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, it  indicated  an  entire  change 
in  its  policy  toward  the  Indians. 

Hitherto  the  Indian  concerns 
had  been  deemed  under  the  care 
of  Congress,  and  the  Executive 
had  carried  into  effect,  pursuant 
to  his  oath  of  office,  the  laws  and 
treaties  made  by  the  treaty-making 
department. 

The  President  now,  however, 
had  declared,  that  he  could  not, 
consistently  with  his  view  of  the 
subject,  interpose  to  prevent  a 
State  from  extending  her  laws  over 
the  tribes,  although  in  violation  of 
treaties. 

The  Indian  intercourse  act 
made  it  the  duty  of  the  President 
to  prevent  any  intrusion  upon  the 
territory  of  the  Indians,  with  the 
view  of  preserving  the  treaties 
inviolate.  This  act  had  hitherto 
been  faithfully  executed  by  each 
successive  adniinistration,  and  the 
military  power  had  been  occasion- 
ally resorted  to,  in  order  to  en- 
force its  provisions. 

The  laws  of  Georgia  now  au- 
thorized an  intrusion  upon  the 
Indian  territory,  for  the  purpose 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


6i 


of  surveying  it,  and  in  extending 
ihe  jurisdiction  of  the  State  over 
it,  in  effect  rendered  it  subject  to 
the  intrusion  of  any  person. 

The  laws  of  the  States  thus 
came  directly  in  conflict  with  those 
of  the  United  States,  and  as  the 
President  had  determined  not  to 
execute  the  law  ofCons^ress,  when 
it  conflicted  with  State  sovereign- 
ty, he  in  that  manner  adopted  the 
State  laws  as  part  of  the  national 
policy,  and  this  bill  thus  passed 
by    Congress,   although  not  in 


terms,  yet  in  effect  came  in  aid 
of  the  local  policy  of  those  three 
Southwestern  States,  sanctioned 
as  that  policy  was,  by  the  new 
Federal  Administration. 

The  Cherokees,  however,  re- 
fused to  acquiesce  in  this  policy, 
and  determined  to  maintain,  by 
all  the  means  in  their  power,  their 
rights  as  guarantied  by  treaty. 

In  this  unsettled,  and  unhappy 
condition  they  remained  at  the 
close  of  the  period  about  which 
we  are  treating. 


6» 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Opinions  in  South  Carolina.  —  Proceedings  in  Southern  States.  — 
Nullification.  —  Public  Lands.  —  System  of  disposing  of  same. 
—  Pretensions  of  Indiana  and  Illinois.  —  Graduation  Bill.  —  Mr 
Foofs  Resolution.  —  Debate  thereon.  —  Mr  Hayne's  Speech.  — 
Mr  Webster'' s  Reply.  —  Effect  of  Discussion.  —  Graduation 
Bill  passes  the  Senate.  —  Laid  over  in  House.  —  Nullification 
Party. 


The  tendency  of  the  two  par- 
lies, into  which  the  American 
people  were  divided,  to  assume  a 
local  character  has  been  r.oliced 
in  the  previous  volumes  of  the 
Register,  and  it  may  be  remai  ked 
nsa  general  proposition,  that  the 
Southern  States  have,  with  the 
exception  of  South  Carolina,  been 
uniformly  hostile  to  the  exercise 
of  power  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. This  State,  although  vot- 
ing with  the  adjacent  States  on  all 
local  and  on  most  national  ques- 
tions, had  on  some  occasions,  as 
in  181 6,  been  foremost  in  asserting 
the  right  of  Congress  to  legislate 
on  certain  disputed  points.  — 
Among  these  wTre  the  subjects  of 
Internal  Improvement,  the  United 
States  Bank  and  the  TarilF.  A 
change  of  opinion  had  now  taken 
placo  there,  and  it  began  to  go 
beyond  any  of  the  advocates  of 
State  rights,  in  its  assertion  of 
State  sovereignty.  A  vehement 
opposition  to  the  tariff,  both  in 


3  824  and  on  the  subsequent 
modification  in  1828,  had  been 
led  by  the  talented  delegation 
from  South  Carolina  in  Congress, 
and  when  they  were  defeated  in 
the  Halls  of  Legislation,  with 
characteristic  energy  they  renew- 
ed their  efforts  to  overturn  the 
system  and  to  render  it  unpopular 
with  the  people. 

At  first  it  was  contemplated  on 
its  passage  to  resign  their  seats  in 
Congress ;  and  a  meeting  of  the 
delegation  was  held  at  Washing- 
ton with  the  view  of  deciding  up- 
on the  steps  which  should  be 
taken.  This  proposition  was  dis- 
cussed, together  with  that  of  de- 
claring the  law  to  be  void  and  of 
no  effect  within  the  State,  and  the 
chances  of  a  successful  resistance 
to  the  Federal  Government  were 
freely  canvassed. 

The  delegation,  however,  did  not 
concur  in  adopting  violent  mea- 
sures, and  it  was  determined  to  en- 
deavor upon  their  return  Iiome  to 


STATE  RIGHTS. 


63 


rouse  their  constituents  to  a  more 
effectual  opposition  to  the  protect- 
ing system.  No  exertions  were 
spared  to  excite  public  feeling 
against  the  law.  It  was  denounc- 
ed as  a  measure  local  in  its  char- 
acter, partial  and  oppressive  in 
its  operation,  and  unconstitutional 
in  principle. 

Having  convinced  themselves 
of  this,  tliey  began  to  question  tlie 
right  of  the  Federal  Government 
to  require  obedience,  and  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  legisla- 
ture of  Georgia,  which,  Decem- 
ber 24th,  1827,  resolved  to  sub- 
mit only  to  its  own  construction 
of  the  Federal  Compact;  the 
Senate  of  South  Carolina  insti- 
tuted a  committee  to  inquire  into 
the  powers  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, in  reference  to  certain 
subjects  then  agitated. 

The  report  of  this  committee, 
which  received  the  sanction  of 
the  State  Senate  on  the  twelfth 
and  of  the  House  on  the  nine- 
teeth  of  December,  ]827,  as- 
serted that  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution was  a  compact  originally 
formed,  not  between  the  people 
of  the  United  States  at  large,  but 
between  the  people  of  the  differ- 
ent States  as  distinct  and  inde- 
pendent sovereignties ;  and  that 
when  any  violation  of  the  letter  or 
spirit  of  that  compact  took  place, 
it  is  not  only  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  of  the  State  Legislatures 
to  reinonstrate  against  it;  that 
the  Federal  Government  was  re- 
sponsible to  the  people  whenever 
it  abused  or  injudiciously  exer- 
cised powers  intrusted  to  it,  and 
that  it  was  responsible  to  the 
State  Legislatures,  whenever  it 
assumed  powers  not  conferred. 


Admitting  that,  under  the  Consti- 
tution a  tribunal  was  appointed  to 
decide  controversies,  where  tlie 
United  States  was  a  party,  the 
report  contended  that  some 
questions  must  occur  between 
the  United  States  and  the  States, 
which  it  would  be  unsafe  to  sub- 
mit to  any  judicial  tribunal.  The 
Supreme  Court  had  already  mani- 
fested an  undue  leaning  in  favor 
of  the  Federal  Government ;  and 
when  the  Constitution  was  violated 
in  its  spirit,  and  not  literally,  there 
was  peculiar  propriety  in  a  State 
Legislature's  undertaking  to  de- 
cide for  itself,  inasmuch  as  the 
Constitution  had  not  provided  any 
remedy. 

The  report  then  proceeded  to> 
declare  all  legislation  for  the  pro- 
tection of  domestic  manufactures 
to  be  unconstitutional,  as  being  in 
favor  of  a  local  interest  and  that 
Congress  had  no  power  to  legis- 
late except  upon  subjects  of  gene- 
ral interest.  Tlie  power  to  con- 
struct roads  and  canals,  within  the 
limits  of  a  State,  or  to  appropriate 
money  for  that  purpose,  was  also 
denounced  as  unconstitutional,  as 
was  all  legislation  for  the  purpose 
of  meliorating  the  condition  of  the 
free  colored  or  the  slave  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

On  this  last  topic,  it  was  inti- 
mated that  no  reasoning  could 
take  place  between  the  United 
States  and  South  Carolina.  It 
was  a  question  of  feeling,  too  in- 
timately connected  with  their  tran- 
quillity and  safety  to  be  discussed. 

In  remonstrating  against  these 
violations  of  the  Constitution,  the 
State  should  appear  as  a  sove- 
reign, and  not  as  a  suppliant  be- 
fore the  National  Legislature,  and 


64 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


resolutions,  expressive  of  the  ap- 
proljatioo  of  the  Stale  Legislature 
of  these  principles,  having  passed 
both  Houses,  they  were  transmit- 
ted, with  the  report,  to  the  dele- 
gation in  Congress,  to  be  laid  be- 
fore that  body,  then  engaged  in 
the  consideration  of  the  tariff. 

That  law  having  passed,  the 
State  Legislature,  at  the  next 
session,  sanctioned  a  protest, 
against  it  as  unconstitutional,  op- 
pressive and  unjust,  which  was 
transmitted  to  their  Senators  in 
Congress  to  be  entered  upon  the 
journal  of  the  Senate.  This  was 
done  on  the  lOih  of  February, 
1829.  The  change  which  took 
])lace  in  the  Federal  Government 
caused  a  belief  that  some  satisfac- 
tory modification  would  be  made 
of  the  tariff;  and  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1829  the  excitement  ap- 
peared to  be  directed  less  against 
the  administration  and  more  con- 
centrated against  the  law  itself. 
The  doctrine,  however,  of  the 
right  of  a  State  to  nullify  an  act 
of  Congress  was  not  relinquished, 
although  it  seemed  to  be  conceded 
that  it  would  be  best  to  attempt 
first  to  procure  the  repeal  of  the 
obnoxious  law.  In  these  opin- 
ions the  State  Government  of 
Georgia  fully  concurred.  As  a 
measure  of  policy,  the  tariff  was 
equally  unpopular,  and  the  con- 
troversy respecting  the  Indians 
had  been  carried  to  that  length, 
as  to  bring  the  State  in  collision 
with  a  law  of  Congress,  and  to 
induce  the  Legislature  to  declare 
that  it  should  be  disregarded  and 
held  void. 

The  Legislature  of  Virginia  also 
declared  its  assent  to  the  same 
principle  of  nullification  by  a  vote 


of  134  to  68 ;  and  judging  from 
the  opinions  expressed  by  the 
public  functionaries  of  those 
States,  the  time  appeared  to  be 
near  at  hand  when  the  Union  was 
about  to  be  dissolved  by  the  de- 
termination of  a  large  section  not 
to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  Fede- 
ral Government,  nor  to  any  com- 
mon tribunal  appointed  to  decide 
upon  their  constitutionality. 

A  check  was  indeed  given  to 
this  spirit  by  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  which,  although  not  less 
averse  to  the  policy  of  the  tariff, 
declared  itself  against  all  violent 
measures  in  opposition  to  it. 

The  State  of  Alabama  also  in 
1 828,  when  remonstrating  against 
the  passage  of  the  tariff,  conceded 
the  right  of  Congress  to  pass 
revenue  laws,  although  the  inci- 
dental effect  might  be  to  protect 
domestic  manufactures.  In  1829, 
indeed,  it  went  farther  and  assum- 
ed nearly  the  same  ground  with 
Virginia,  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  ;  still  the  qualified  oppo- 
sition first  made  to  the  law  proved, 
that  the  South  was  not  united  in 
the  unconstitutional  stand  taken 
by  some  of  the  Slates  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  that  the  injustice  and  op- 
pression which  were  so  vehe- 
mently denounced,  were  not  so 
plainly  and  generally  felt  as  to  ren- 
der resistance  to  the  tariff  a  popu- 
lar step.  Indeed  it  was  doubted 
whether  the  feelings  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  three  States,  which  had 
declared  in  favor  of  nullification, 
were  not  misrepresented  by  the 
local  legislatures.  However  de- 
cidedly they  might  have  disap- 
proved of  the  policy  of  protection, 
no  suflicient  evidence  had  yet 
been  given  that  they  deemed  it  a 


PUBLIC  LANDS. 


65^ 


greater  evil  than  disunion,  and 
the  declarations  and  resolutions 
put  forth  by  the  State  Governments 
were  justly  considered  as  the  sud- 
den ebullitions  of  violent  feelings 
or  as  efforts  on  the  part  of  leading 
^  men  to  excite  a  tempest  in  the 
public  mind  for  political  effect. 
This  movement  was  not  rendered 
less  dangerous  by  the  motives  of 
those  who  made  it.  When  the 
storm  began  to  rage,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  control  it.  It  might 
as  easily  break  down  the  barriers 
of  the  Constitution  and  overturn 
the  government,  as  annul  an  un- 
popular law.  The  federative 
principle  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  whole  authority  of  Congress 
and  of  the  Federal  Judiciary  were 
put  in  issue  by  the  question  now 
started,  and  however  unwilling 
the  leaders  might  be  to  destroy 
the  Union  ;  still  experience  had 
loo  clearly  shown  the  difficulty  of 
restraining  an  excited  people,  not 
to  create  apprehension  as  to  the 
result  of  these  efforts  to  throw  off 
the  authority  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment. Similar  movements  in 
another  portion  of  the  Union,  also 
originating  in  local  interests,  and 
aiming  at  an  extension  of  State 
sovereignty,  to  the  detriment  of 
the  just  claims  of  the  Federal 
Government,  gave  additional 
ground  for  these  apprehensions. 
Efforts  had  been  made  of  late 
3^ears  in  some  of  the  Western 
States,  to  induce  them  to  claim, 
under  pretence  of  their  rights  as 
sovereign  States,  the  public  lands 
belonging  to  the  U^nited  States 
within  their  several  limits. 

The  lands,  forming  the  public 
domain  of  the  country,  were  ac- 
quired by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment in  two  modes. 


The  portion  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, forming  much  the  larger  part 
is  held  under  the  Louisiana  treaty, 
having  been  acquired  by  purchase 
from  France.  The  residue  was 
acquired  at  the  treaty  of  1783, 
the  fruits  of  conquest  from  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain.  Several 
of  the  States  set  up  claims  to 
these  lands,  then  lying  beyond  the 
farthest  frontier  settlements  and 
west  of  the  Alleghanies  and  in- 
habited only  by  Indian  tribes ; 
but  after  some  dispute  these  claims 
were  relinquished  (New  York 
setting  the  examj)le)  and  the  right 
of  the  United  States  acknowledged 
to  all  these  lands,  which  were  di- 
vided into  the  Northwest  and 
Southwest  or  Mississippi  terri- 
tories. 

Out  of  these  territories,  new- 
States  have  been  from  time  to  time 
erected  and  admitted  into  the 
Union  under  certain  conditions 
and  stipulations  inserted  in  the  act 
of  Congress,  authoriz'ng  the  in- 
habitants to  form  constitutions. 
These  States  have  been  settled 
chiefly  by  emigrants  from  the  old 
thirteen  States  and  the  titles  to  their 
land  have  been  derived  mostly 
from  the  United  States.  Prior  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, but  few  sales  had  been 
made. 

Three  large  tracts  were  sold, 
one  called  the  triangle,  north  of 
Pennsylvania,  east  of  Ohio  and 
west  of  New  York,  on  lake  Erie, 
consisting  of 202,1 87  acres,  which 
was  sold  to  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, September  4th,  1778  ; 
one  tract  on  the  Ohio  and  Musk- 
ingum rivers,  to  the  Ohio  company, 
originally  containing  two  million 
acres,  but  afterwards  reduced  by 
consent  to  964,285  acres;  and  a 


m  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 

third  tract  between  the  Great  and  under  proclamations  of  the  Presi- 
Little  Miami,  to  John  Cleves  dent  at  the  minimum  price  of 
Symmes,  containing  at  first  one  $1,25  per  acre.  Lands  not  sold 
million,  but  afterwards  reduced  to  at  public  sale  are  afterwards  sub- 
248,540  acres.  ject  to  entry  at  private  sale  at  the 

Besides  these,  72,974  acres  minimum  price, 
were  sold  in  1787,  under  the  or-  The  whole  public  domain  of 
dinance  of  1785,  for  disposing  of  the  United  States  amounts  to 
lands  in  the  western  territory  and  1,063,000,000  acres,  while  the 
48,566  acres  in  1796,  were  also  superfices  of  the  States  and  ter- 
sold  under  the  same  ordinance,  rilories,  as  ownfed  by  the  States 
A  regular  system  was  afterwards  or  their  citizens,  amount  to  less 
adopted  for  the  disposition  of  the  than  350,000,000  acres, 
public  domain  and  Surveyor  Gen-  Of  the  public  lands,  where  the 
erals  appointed.  In  1800,  the  Indian  title  has  not  yet  been  ex- 
acts containing  the  principal  fea-  tinguished,  750,000,000  acres  lie 
tures  of  the  present  land  system  in  the  great  Western  Territory  : 
were  passed.  56,804,824  acres  in  Huron  Ter- 

They  have  been  subsequently  ritory,  west  of  Michigan  Lake : 
modified,  and  in  1820,  cash  sales  11,411,040  acres  in  the  Territo- 
were  substituted  for  sales  on  cred-  ries  of  Michigan  and  Florida,  and 
it;  but  as  they  now  exist  they  are  38,574,598  acres  within  the  lim- 
substantially  as  follows.  its  of  States  now  members  of  the 

The  public  lands  when  sur-  Union.  Besides  this,  there  are 
veyed,  which  is  done  under  the  72,892,661  acres  in  the  Territo- 
superintendence  of  five  Principal  ries  of  Florida,  Alabama  and 
Surveyors,  at  the  expense  of  the  Michigan,  and  132,780,037  acres 
United  States,  are  divided  into  within  the  limits  of  States  where 
townships  of  six  miles  square,  the  Indian  title  has  been  extin- 
and  these  are  subdivided  into  36  guished. 

sections  of  a  mile  square,  contain-  About  150,000,000  acres  have 
ing  6^0  acres  each.  been  surveyed  up  to  the  present 

The  dividing  lines  run  east  and  time  ;  of  which  20,000,000  have 
west  or  north  and  south,  though  been  sold ;  20,000,000  have 
sometimes  a  navigable  river  or  an  been  granted  by  Congress  for 
Indian  boundary  creates  a  frac-  education,  internal  improvement 
tional  section.  and  other  purposes  ;  80,000,000 

The  section  No.  16,  in  each  have  been  proclaimed  for  sale 
township,  is  reserved  for  the  sup-  and  are  now^  subject  to  entry  at 
port  of  the  schools  in  the  town-  the  minimum  price,  and  30,000,- 
ships  and  distinct  reservations  are  000  have  not  yet  been  proclaimed 
made  for  Colleges.  Salt  springs  for  sale  on  account  of  the  want  of 
and  lead  mines  are  also  reserved,  demand.  The  annual  expense 
subject  to  be  leased  by  the  Presi-  of  these  surveys  amounts  to  about 
dent.  §70,000.    The  total  expense  of 

The  other  sections  are  offered  selling  the  public  lands  from  1800 
for  sale  at  public  auction  for  cash,    to  3825  amounted  to  $1,154,- 


PUBLIC  LANDS. 


67 


951,  and  the  moneys  received 
from  the  sales  during  the  same 
period  to  $31,345,964,  besides 
$7,955,831  due  from  purchasers, 
of  which  only  part  can  be  recov- 
ered. 

Although  the  value  of  the  land 
not  sold  is  incomparably  less  in 
proportion  to  the  quantity  than 
that  disposed  of,  the  increase  of 
population  and  the  advancing 
settlement  of  the  country  is  dai- 
ly augmenting  the  value  of  the 
portion  remaining  unsold ;  and 
when  v^^e  regard  the  future  and 
compare  it  with  the  past,  sufficient 
is  seen  to  convince  us  that  the 
public  domain  is  of  vast  and 
incalculable  importance  to  the 
Federal  Government.  Whether 
viewed  as  an  economical  or  as  a 
political  question,  it  is  one  full  of 
momentous  results ;  and  when 
taken  in  connexion  with  the 
claims  of  State  sovereignties  it 
becomes  as  delicate  as  it  is  im- 
portant. 

The  large  quantity  of  lands 
within  the  limits  of  States,  now 
members  of  the  Confederacy, 
must  eventually  give  to  that  ques- 
tion an  absorbing  interest.  It 
has  even  now  begun  to  evince  the 
character  which  renders  it  a  dan- 
gerous question  to  the  authority 
of  the  Federal  Government,  and 
connects  the  pretensions  of  the 
States  agitating  the  subject  with 
the  claims  and  doctrines  of  the 
States  of  Virginia,  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  Acting  upon  the 
new  principle  advanced  by  Geor- 
gia in  relation  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  State  over  all  land  ,  within 
its  limits,  some  of  the  new  States 
have  lately  set  up  a  claim  to  the 
property  in  the  soil  of  all  lands 


not  owned  by  individuals  as  m 
incident  of  sovereignty. 

Complaints  had  been  previous- 
ly made  of  the  system  pursued  by 
the  United  States,  in  disposing  of 
the,  public  domain.  The  princi- 
ple of  holding  all  lands  in  the 
hands  of  the  Government  which 
did  not  bring  the  minimum  price, 
it  was  said,  prevented  emigrants 
from  settling  in  those  States, 
where  the  best  lands  had  been 
preoccupied,  and  the  population 
became  thus  sparsely  scattered 
over  a  vast  extent  of  country.  A 
system  of  graduated  prices  ac- 
cording to  their  actual  value 
would  bring  about  the  sale  of 
large  tracts  now  unsold,  and 
which  would  remain  unsold  so 
long  as  more  valuable  land  could 
be  purchased  farther  west  at  the 
same  price. 

Donations  of  small  tracts  were 
also  recommended  to  actual  set- 
tlers ;  and  a  contest  was  obviously 
about  to  commence  between  those 
who,  regarding  the  public  do- 
main as  a  fund  for  the  common 
benefit,  were  desirous  of  making 
it  productive  to  the  treasury,  by 
selling  it  upon  liberal  terms,  and 
those  who,  looking  only  to  the 
settlement  of  their  several  States, 
advocated  the  forcing  the  public 
territory  into  market  without  refe- 
rence to  the  demand,  or  to  any- 
thing except  the  promotion  of  lo- 
cal views  and  objects. 

Memorials  were  sanctioned  by 
some  of  the  Western  Legislatures, 
remonstrating  against  the  existing 
mode  of  disposing  of  the  public 
lands,  and  the  State  of  Illinois  in- 
timated that  if  it  were  not  chang- 
ed grave  questions  would  arise 
among  them,  whether  the  title  of 


68 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ihe  United  States  to  the  public 
lands  was  valid  and  binding  over 
the  new  States,  and  whether  the 
claims  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment, in  relation  to  the  public  do- 
main, were  not  inconsistent  with 
the  rights  of  the  several  States. 

The  memorial  containing  these 
doctrines  was  presented  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  in 
February,  1829  ;  and  about  the 
same  time  the  State  of  Indiana 
undertook  to  decide  the  question 
for  herself,  in  the  same  manner 
that  the  Southern  States  gave 
their  own   construction  of  the 
Federal  Compact  as  the  only  one 
to  which  they  would  submit.  On 
the  9ih  of  January,  1829,  a  reso- 
lution was  adopted  by  the  Leg- 
islature of  that  State  in  the  follow- 
ing terms  :  '  Resolved  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State 
of  Indiana,  that  this  State,  being 
a  sovereign,  free  and  independent 
State,  has  the  exclusive  right  to 
the  soil  and  eminent  domain  of 
all  the  unappropriated  land  within 
her  acknowledged  boundaries  — 
which  right  was  reserved  to  her 
by  the  State  of  Virginia  in  the 
deed  of  cession  of  the  Northwest 
territory  to  the  United  States,  be- 
ing confirmed  and  established  by 
the  articles  of  confederation  and 
the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.' 

Attempts,  too,  had  been  made 
in  other  States  to  excite  dissatis- 
faction at  the  mode  of  selling  pub- 
lic territory,  adopted  by  the  Fede- 
ral Government,  and  to  throw 
doubts  upon  the  validity  ol  its  tide 
to  that  portion  within  the  limits  of 
States.    One  of  the  measures 


tending  to  excite  and  promote 
dissatisfaction  on  this  subject,  was 
a  bill  providing  for  the  selling,  at 
graduated  prices,  which  was  in- 
troduced into  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  by  Mr  Benton, 
of  Missouri,  in  1826.*  The 
Legislatures  of  Alabama,  Illinois 
and  Missouri,  at  differentsessions, 
passed  resolutions  approving  the 
principle  of  the  bill. 

By  these  movements  public 
attention  was  strongly  attracted 
towards  this  subject ;  and  on  the 
29th  day  of  December,  1829, 
Mr  Foot,  of  Connecticut,  intro- 
duced the  following  resolution  into 
the  Senate  : 

'  Resolved,  That  the  Committee 
on  Public  Lands  be  instructed  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of 
limiting,  for  a  certain  period,  the 
sales  of  the  Public  Lands,  to  such 
lands  only  as  have  heretofore  been 
offered  for  sale  and  are  subject  to 
entry  at  the  minimum  price, 
and  also  whether  the  office  of 
Surveyor  General  may  not  be 
abolished  without  detriment  to 
the  public  interest.' 

The  next  day,  on  taking  up 
this  resolution.  Sir  Foot  said  he 
was  induced  to  offer  it  from  hav- 
ing ascertained  that  72,000,000 
acres  still  remained  unsold  at  the 
minimum  price ;  and  that  it  ap- 
peared from  the   report  of  the 
Land  Commissioner  that  the  an- 
nual demand  amounted  to  about 
one  million  acres,  and  that  in  one 
district  in  Ohio,  where  the  land 
was  of  inferior  quality  and  only 
300,000  acres  for  sale,  the  cash 
sales    amounted  to   $35,000  ; 


•  This  proposition  was  favorably  received  in  the  West 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


m 


whtle  in  other  districts,  where  the 
jand  was  of  hetter  quality,  and 
larger  tracts  lor  sale,  tlie  sales 
amounted  only  to  2000. 

He  thought,  therefore,  it  was 
proper  to  inquire  into  the  expe- 
diency of  stopping  for  a  time  this 
indiscriminate  sale  of  public  lands. 

Mr  Benton  opposed  this  i"eso- 
kition  as  part  of  a  systematic 
policy  for  crippling  the  growth  of 
the  West,  which  had  been  pursu- 
ed for  forty  years.  It  was  as  old 
as  the  existence  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  practical  effect  of 
the  resolution  would  be  to  check 
emigration  to  the  West  —  for  who 
would  move  to  a  new  country  if 
it  was  not  to  get  new  lands  ?  He 
was  desirous  of  meeting  the  ques- 
tion now,  and  he  would  move  to 
make  it  the  order  for  a  future 
day.  Mr  Noble  was  opposed  to 
the  resolution,  but  was  willing  to 
meet  the  question,  and  proposed 
to  make  it  the  older  of  the  day 
for  Monday  next,  Mr  Benton 
wished  a  longer  day  and  mov- 
ed for  its  postponement  to  the 
succeeding  Monday. 

On  the  18th  of  January,  iS30, 
the  subject  was  resumed  and  i\ir 
Benton  commenced  a  speech  in 
opposition  to  the  resolution,  which 
he  asserted  was  intended  to  stop 
the  surveying  of  public  lands  ;  to 
abolish  all  the  offices  of  the  Sur- 
veyors General,  and  to  limit  the 
sales  to  the  land  now  in  market. 

The  effect  of  these  measures 
would  be  to  check  emigration  to 
the  new  States,  to  retard  their 
settlement,  to  deliver  up  large 
portions  of  them  to  the  dominion 
of  wild  beasts,  and  to  remove  all 
the  land  records  from  the  new 
7 


States  He  contended  that  the 
effect  of  tlie  inquiry  would  be  to 
alarm  and  agitate  the  West. 

Two  great  attempts  had  been 
made  to  prevent  emigration  to^l"^ 
West,  besides  the  one  now  making, 
to  induce  the  people  of  the  East 
10  stay  at  home,  and  work  in  man- 
ufactories, instead  of  emigrating 
to  the  West.  The  first  great  at- 
tempt was  in  1786;  the  scheme 
was,  to  give  up  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi,  for  twentyfive  or 
thirty  years,  to  Spain ;  seven  States 
north  of  Maryland,  voted  for  that 
surrender  ;  six  States  south  of 
Maryland,  inclusive,  voted  against 
it.  In  this  attempt  was  to  be 
discerned  the  germ  of  that  policy 
by  which  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi had  been  dismembered, 
and  her  rivers  amputated.  The 
second  great  attempt  was  made 
by  a  committee  of  twelve  in  Con- 
gress, of  whom  eight  were  from 
the  north,  and  four  from  the  soutli 
of  the  Potomac.  The  commit- 
tee were  Messrs  Long,  of  New 
Hampshire  ;  R.  King,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  Howell,  of  Rhode 
Island ;  Johns-on,  of  Connecticut ; 
R.  R.  Livingston,  of  Nev/  York  ; 
Stewart,  of  New  Jersey ;  Gar- 
diner, of  Pennsylvania  ;  Henry, 
of  Maryland  ;  Grayson,  of  Vir- 
ginia ;  Williamson,  of  North  Car- 
olina ;  Ball,  of  South  Carolina  ; 
and  Houston,  of  Georgia.  This 
committee  reported  the  present 
plan  of  surveys  of  the  public  land  ; 
but  they  also  reported  a  provision, 
which  would  have  prevented  a 
settlement  out  of  sight  of  the 
Pennsylvania  lino.  This  was, 
that '  eacit  township  should  be  sold 
out  complete,  before  any  land  was 


70 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


offered  in  the  next  one.'  This 
would  have  been  fatal  to  t'le  West. 
By  the  exertions  of  Virginia,  and 
the  whole  South,  aided  by  scatter- 
ed reinforcements  from  the  North, 
the  provision  was  stricken  out, 
and  thus  ended  the  second  great 
attempt  to  injure  the  West.  The 
object,  however,  had  never  been 
abandoned,  and  it  could  be  seen 
at  intervals,  in  refusing  troops  and 
money  to  defend  the  frontiers  of 
the  West,  and  to  extinguish  the 
Indian  titles;  and  in  Mr  Adams' 
withdrawal  from  the  market,  in 
violation  of  law,  of  1000  square 
miles  in  Missouri.  The  West 
must  still  look  to  the  solid  phalanx 
of  the  South  for  succor,  until  by 
the  quiet  superiority  which  the 
census  of  1840  would  give  her, 
she  could  set  all  right. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  Mr 
Smith  of  Maryland,  expressed 
himself  in  favor  of  the  inquiry, 
and  of  his  personal  knowledge 
denied  that  Mr  Adams  was  the 
first  to  relinquish  the  Colorado  as 
a  boundary.  Mr  Adams  said 
that  must  and  should  be  our  west- 
ern boundary,  and  this  occasioned 
a  quarrel  betwixt  Mr  Adams  and 
Don  Onis. 

Mr  Holmes  of  Maine  objected 
to  an  attempt  to  charge  one  sec- 
tion with  hostility  to  another.  He 
had  never  been  sectional.  Dur- 
ing the  late  war  he  had  done  what 
he  could  to  sustain  the  West. 
The  East  hostile  to  the  West ! 
Where }  When  ?  In  what  act  of 
Congress  ?  Was  it  in  the  charter 
of  July,  1787  ?  Was  it  in  provid- 
ing by  that  able  state  paper  for 
new  States,  and  receiving  them 
when  they  possessed.  60,000  in- 
habitants?   The  fact  of  purchas- 


ing lands  showed  that  the  East 
was  not  hostile  to  emigration  ;  Mr 
Holmes  replied  to  Mr  Benton  n 
detail.  He  stated  that  200,000,- 
000  of  acres  were  now  ready  ad 
in  the  market  for  settlers. 

Mr  Woodbury,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, offered  an  amendment, 
which  proposed  an  inquiry  into 
the  expediency  of  hastening  the 
sales  and  extending  more  rapidly 
the  surveys  of  public  lands.  He 
alluded  to  the  bounties  given  to 
settlers  in  Canada,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  countervailing  it. 

Mr  Foot,  of  Connecticut,  op- 
posed an  amendment. 

Mr  Barton,  of  Missouri,  would 
vote  for  the  amendment. 

Mr  Smith  of  Maryland,  could 
see  no  occasion  for  the  amend- 
ment. He  was  in  favor  of  an 
inquiry.  The  result  of  an  inqui- 
ry would  show  that  no  hostility 
existed.  The  Senate  had  always 
been  liberal  to  the  new  States  and 
they  had  acknowledged  it. 

Mr  Livingston,  of  Louisiana, 
said  there  was  a  regular  and  an 
irregular  mode  of  doing  business. 
By  the  regular  mode,  resolutions 
went  to  a  com.mittee  ;  by  the  ir- 
regular miode,  members  undertook 
to  furnish  information  and  go  into 
subjects  at  length.  He  wished 
the  regular  mode  had  been  pre- 
ferred. He  was  opposed  to  the 
original  resolution,  but  in  favor  of 
the  amendment. 

Mr  Sprague,  of  Maine,  suggest- 
ed a  union  of  the  two  proposi- 
tions, and  Mr  Foot,  of  Connecti- 
cut, accepted  it ;  so  the  resolution 
as  it  stood,  ordered  an  inquiry  mto 
the  expediency  of  hastenmg  as 
well  as  of  limiting  sales ;  and  of 
extending  more  rapidly  the  sur- 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


71 


veys,  as  well  as  of  abolishing  the 
office  of  Surveyor  General. 

Mr  Hayne,  of  South  Carolina, 
now  rose  and  said,  that  to  op])ose 
inquiry  was  not  necessarily  an  un- 
parliamentary course.    He  con- 
curred with  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri,  that  it  could  never  be 
right  to  inquire  into  thr  expediency 
of  doing  a  great  and  acknowledg- 
ed wrong.   There  were  two  great 
systems  and  two  great  parties  in 
relation  to  the  settlement  of  the 
public  lands.    One  system  was 
that  which  we   had  pursued,  of 
selling  the  land  at  the  highest 
price.    Another  was  that  of  Great 
Britain,   France,  and  Spain,  of 
granting  their  lands  for  a  penny  or 
a  peppercorn.    He  described  the 
opposite  results  of  these  systems. 
That  of  the  United  States  pro- 
duced poverty  and  universal  dis- 
tress, and  took  away  from  the 
settlers  all  the  profits  of  labor.  It 
drained  the  new  States  of  all  their 
money  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
South,  by  the  operation  of  the 
tariff,  was  drained  to  enrich  more 
favored  sections  of  the  Union. 
The  South  could  sympathize  with 
the  West.    If  the  opposite  sys- 
tem had  been  pursued,  who  could 
tell  how  much  good,, how  much 
improvement,  would  have  taken 
place,  which  has  not,  in  the  new 
States  !     But  there  was  another 
purpose  to  which  it  was  supposed 
the  public  land  could  be  applied ; 
viz.  so  as  to  create  and  preserve 
in  certain  quarters,  a  population 
suitable  and  sufficient  for  manu- 
facturing establishments.    It  was 
necessary  to  create  a  manufactory 
of  paupers,  and  these  would  sup- 
ply  the  manufactories  of  rich 
proprietors   and  enable  them  to 


amass  great  wealth.  This  doc- 
trine was  broached  by  the  late 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

The  lands  were  pledged  for  the 
public  debt.  This  would  be  paid 
in  three  or  four  years.  He  was 
in  favor  of  a  system,  which  looked 
to  the  total  relinquishment,  at  that 
time,  of  the  lands  to  the  States  in 
which  they  lie,  at  prices,  he  would 
not  say  nominal,  but  certainly  so 
moderate,  as  not  to  keep  the  States 
long  in  debt  to  the  United  States. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  Mr 
Hayne  appealed  to  the  gentlemen 
from  (he  Atlantic  States,  if  it  was 
not  true  that  the  whole  of  their 
country  was  parcelled  out  and 
settled  under  the  liberal  system  of 
Britain,  instead  of  the  hard  and 
draining  one,  which  we  had  hith- 
erto pursued  in  regard  to  the  West. 
Mr  Hayne  urged  the  necessity  of 
distributing  the  lands  to  the  States, 
from  a  regard  to  State  sovereignty 
and  the  tendency  of  such  a  fund 
to  produce  consolidation. 

Mr  Webster,  of  Massachusetts, 
rose  to  reply,  but  gave  way,  on 
motion  of  Mr  Benton,  for  an  ad- 
journment. 

Wednesday,  January  20th.  Mr 
Webster  took  the  floor    He  de 
nied  that  their  was  any  analogy 
between  the  cases  of  the  British 
colonies  and  the  Western  States. 
The  British  colonies  fled  from 
persecution,  or  came  and  settled 
here  at  their  own  charge  and  risk 
Our  frontier  settlers  were  protect 
ed,  and  had  the  Indian  title  extin 
guished  for  them,  at  a  great  ex 
pense  both  of  blood  and  treasure 
A    protecting    arm    was  evei 
stretched  over  them.    They  had 
gone  forth  and  continued  undet 
the  shadow  of  the  pareat's  wing 


72 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


He  said  that  by  the  terms  of  re- 
linquishment ol'  the  territory  north- 
west of  the  Ohio,  by  the  States 
Ol  Virginia,  Connecticut,  and 
Massachusetts,  and  of  acceptance, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
Congress  ha<i  no  right  to  apply 
the  lands,  or  the  proceeds  of  then], 
to  any  other  ])urposes,  than  for 
the  common  benefit  of  all  the 
States;  or  to  relinqnisli  the  ad- 
ministration of  these  jsnds  to  any 
other  power  or  agent,  for  the  com- 
pact is,  that  the  lands  shall  be  set- 
tled, at  such  time,  and  in  svch 
manner  as  Congress  shall  pre- 
scribe. The  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina  had  admitted  that 
the  lands  were  pledged  for  the 
public  debt ;  but  there  was  an 
earlier  mortgage,  coeval  with  the 
cessions  by  the  States.  Mr  Web- 
ster drew  a  powerful  picture  of 
what  Ohio  was,  and  of  what  she 
now  is,  and  inferred  from  the  con- 
trast, that  no  hard  and  harsh  sys- 
tem of  policy  had  been  pursued 
toward  her.  In  regard  to  the 
danger  of  corruption,  from  con- 
sidering the  lands  as  a  common 
fund,  he  said  they  had  been  ap- 
propriated for  education  ;  does 
education  corrupt  ?  is  the  school- 
master a  corrupter  of  youth  ?  for 
roads  and  canals  ;  do  good  roads 
and  navigable  waters  corrupt  the 
people?  There  were  men,  who 
seemed  to  deprecate  everything 
which  created  a  common  interest 
in  the  States  to  keep  together  ! 
It  was  called  consolidation.  For 
his  part  he  liked  it ;  it  was  consti- 
tutional consolidation  ;  it  was  Gen. 
Washington's  consolidation.  In 
the  letter,  submitting  the  Consti- 
tution, the  framers  of  it  used  these 
words,     '  consolidation  of  tiie 


Union.'    He    [Mr  W.]   was  a 

unionist,  and  in  this  sense,  a  na- 
tional republican.  And  in  regard 
to  tl)e  public  debt,  though  he 
wished  it  discharged  as  onerous 
to  the  industry  of  the  country, 
yet  if  a  collateral  consequence 
of  it  were  to  add  a  new  bond  to 
the  Union,  he  should  not  regret 
that  consequence. 

But  the  tariff,  and  the  East,  the 
obnoxious,  the  rebuked,  and  al- 
ways reproached  East  I  The  ta- 
riff was  not  a  measure  of  the 
East :  on  the  contrary,  until  the 
policy  was  irrevocably  adopted, 
she  always  opposed  it.  Up  to 
the  year  18.24,  Virgitiia  had  given 
more  votes  in  favor  of  it  than 
Massachusetts.  The  State  of 
Massachusetts  was  then  blamed 
because  she  would  not  vote  for  it, 
and  now  she  is  blamed,  because, 
accommodating  herself  to  the  sit- 
uation into  which  she  was  forced, 
she  votes  for  it !  Mr  Webster 
adverted  to  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
by  which  our  present  system,  in 
regard  to  the  setdement  and  ad- 
mission of  new  States,  north  of  the 
Ohio,  had  been  established,  and 
to  the  great  advantage  secured  to 
Ohio  by  the  exclusion  of  slavery. 
That  ordinance  was  drawn  bv 
N  athan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts'; 
and  for  wisdom,  it  was  not  surpass- 
ed by  the  legislation  of  Numa  or 
Solon.  This  had  not  only  ex- 
cluded slavery  but  litigation,  pre- 
venting land  from  bein^  shingled 
over  with  titles  thirty  deep,  as  was 
the  case  south  of  the  Ohio.  Mr 
Webster  here  went  into  an  analy- 
sisof  votes  on  measures  for  the 
benefit  of  the  West,  for  the  making 
and  repairs  of  Cumberland  Road, 
for  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal, 


/ 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


•73 


for  till'  Wabash  Canal,  he,  and 
sliowe;!  that  if  the  Eastern  votes 
were  stricken  out,  those  and  sim- 
ilar measures  would  have  been 
lost,  and  the  improvements,  never 
made.    And  here  Mr  Weoster 
read  from  a  report  of  a  debate, 
in  the  House  ol'  Representatives, 
in  1825,  in  which  Mr  McDuffie, 
of  South  Carolina,  had  advanced 
and  supported  the  sentiment,  that 
it  would  have  been  better  for  the 
prosperity  and  wealth  of  the  old 
thirteen  States,  if  no  lands  had 
ever  been  sold  or  settled  ;  that 
the  whole  southern  country  was 
decaying,  by  her  population  being 
absorbed  in  the  vortex  of  new 
States.    In  the  same  debate,  Mr 
Webster  had  replied  to  Mr  Mc- 
Duffie, and  expressed  his  willing- 
ness that  the  population  should  go 
where  Providence  and  their  own 
ideas  of  profit  and  happiness  led 
them.    He  said  that  the  remarks 
of  the  gentleman    from  South 
Carolina  opened  to  him  some  new 
views  of  policy.    He  [Mr  W.] 
knew  that  some  States  had  very 
bad  roads.    He  thought  he  could 
now  see  the  reason.    It  was  that 
the  inhabitants  might  not  be  able 
to  go  away  !     These  extracts 
showed  that  m  1825,  the  leading 
representative  from  South  Caro- 
lina had  expressed,  and  the  whole 
delegation  of  that  State  had  ac- 
quiesced in  those  illiberal,  narrow, 
anti-emigration  feelings  and  views, 
which  the  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina  had  now  charged  upon 
Massachusetts  and  the  Atlantic 
States  of  the  North  ;  and  that  a 
representative  from  Massachusetts 
had  combatted,  with  argument  and 
ridicule,  those  feelings  and  views, 
and  had  professed  and  advocated 
7* 


the  liberal  sentiments,  in  re^rard 
to  emigration,  for  which  the  gen- 
tleman from  South  Carolina  now 
claimed  exclusive  credit. 

Mr  Webster  concluded  by  ob- 
serving, that  during  the  v.'hole  fif- 
teen years  that  he  had  been  a 
representative  or  senator,  he  had 
never  made  so  many  remarks  of 
a  sectional  character,  as  he  had 
in  the  present  debate  ;  but  while 
he  stood  liere  as  the  representa- 
tive of  Massachusetts,  he  would 
be  her  true  representative,  and  by 
the  blessing  of  God  he  would  vin- 
dicate her  character,  motives, 
and  history,  from  every  imputa- 
tion, coming  from  a  respectable 
source. 

Mr  Benton,  of  Missouri,  rose 
in  reply.  He  said,  that  if  it  had 
depended  on  New  England, — 
he  would  proclaim  it  to  the  world, 
—  not  a  settlement  would  have 
been  made  in  the  West.  He  re- 
peated his  arguments  in  relation  to 
the  Spanish  Treaty,  and  the  non- 
settlement  clause ;  he  said  the 
motive  of  the  North,  for  acceding 
to  the  surrender  of  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi,  was  to  have 
Spain  take  train  oil  and  codfish 
from  ns,  id  est,  from  JVew  Eng- 
land. God  save  us,  said  I\lr  B., 
from  such  allies.  He  joined  issue 
with  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts, as  to  the  benefits  confer- 
red by  the  East  upon  the  West. 

Thursday,  January  21.  Mr 
Chambers,  of  Maryland,  hoped 
that  the  Senate  would  postpone 
the  discussion  until  Monday,  as 
Mr  Webster,  who  had  taken  a 
part  in  it,  and  wished  to  be  pre- 
sent at  it,  had  unavoidable  en- 
gagements out  of  the  Senate,  and 
could  not  conveniently  attend. 


74 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1859  —  30. 


Mr  Hayr.e,  of  South  Carolina, 
said  that  some  things  had  fallen 
from  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts, which  had  created  sen- 
sations here,  [touching  his  breast,] 
from  whT.h  he  would  desire  at 
once  to  relieve  himself.  The 
gentleman  had  discharged  his 
weapon,  and  he  [Mr  H.]  wished 
for  an  opportunity  to  return  the 
fire  ! 

Mr  Webster.  1  am  ready  to 
receive  it ;  let  the  discussion  pro- 
ceed. 

Mr  Benton,  of  Missouri,  then 
continued  his  remarks,  denying 
that  the  credit  of  framing  the  or- 
dinance of  1787  was  due  to  Na- 
than Dane  ;  it  belonged  to  Mr 
Jefferson  and  the  South.  Mr 
Benton  said,  that  in  New  England 
tliere  was  a  dividing  line  between 
the  friends  of  the  West,  and  those 
who  thought  it  *  unbecoming  a 
moral  and  religious  people  to  re- 
joice at  victory.'  On  one  side 
was  democracy;  on  the  other, 
all  that  was  opposed  to  democra- 
cy; the  alliance  of  the  latter 
party  offered  yesterday  to  the 
West,  he  begged  leave,  in  behalf 
of  the  W^est,  to  decline^  On  all 
the  questions  in  which  the  West 
had  an  interest,  the  South  had 
been  its  friend  ;  and  the  North, 
if  not  all,  at  least  its  leaders,  ene- 
mies !  Massachusetts,  who  now 
came  forward  to  offer  an  alliance, 
was  found,  on  every  question, 
opposed  to  generous,  magnani- 
mous Virginia. 

Mr  Bell  of  New  Hampshire, 
moved  to  postpone  further  discus- 
sion until  Monday,  which  was  ne- 
gatived, ayes  13,  nces  18. 

Mr  Hayne  then  said,  when  he 
took  occasion,  two  days  ago,  to 


throw  out  some  ideas  with  respect 
to  the  policy  of  the  Government  in 
relation  to  the  public  lands,  he 
did  not  expect  to  be  called  upon 
to  meet  such  an  argunient  as  was 
urged  by  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts.  J  charged  no 
party,  or  State,  or  section  of 
country  with  hostility  to  any  other, 
but  ventured  I  thought,  in  a  be- 
coming spirit,  to  put  forth  my 
own  sentiments  in  relation  to  a 
great  national  question  of  public 
])olicy.  The  gendeman  from 
Missouri,  [Mr  Benton]  it  is  true, 
had  charged  upon  the  Eastern 
States  an  early  and  continued 
hostility  towards  the  West,  and 
referred  to  a  number  of  historical 
facts  and  documents  in  support  of 
that"  charge.  Eow  have  these 
different  arguments  been  met  ? 
The  honorable  gentleman  from 
]\Iassachusetts,  after  deliberating 
a  whole  night  upon  his  course, 
comes  into  this  chamber  to  vindi- 
cate New  England  ;  and  instead 
of  making  up  his  issue  with  the 
gentleman  from  Missouri,  on  the 
charges  which  he  had  preferred, 
chooses  to  consider  me  as  the 
author  of  those  charges,  and  los- 
ing sight  entirely  of  that  gentle- 
man, selects  me  as  his  adversary, 
and  pours  out  all  the  vials  of  his 
mighty  wrath  upon  my  devoted 
head.  Nor  is  he  willing  to  stop 
there.  He  goes  on  to  assail  the 
institutions  and  policy  of  the 
South,  and  calls  in  question  the 
principles  and  conduct  of  the 
Slate  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
represent.  When  1  find  a  gentle- 
man of  mature  age  and  experi- 
ence —  of  acknowledged  talents 
and  profound  sagacity  —  pursuing 
a  course  like  this,  declining  the 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


7® 


contest  frnm  the  West,  and  mak- 
ing war  upon  the  unoffending 
South,  I  must  believe,  I  am  bound 
to  believe,  he  has  some  object  in 
view  tliat  he  has  not  ventured  to 
disclose.  Why  is  this  ?  If  it  be 
his  object  to  thrust  me  between 
the  gentleman  from  Missouri  and 
himself,  in  order  to  rescue  the 
East  from  the  contest  it  has  pro- 
voked with  tlie  West,  he  shall 
not  be  gratified.  The  South 
shall  not  be  forced  into  a  conflict 
not  its  own.  The  gallant  West 
needs  no  aid  from  the  South  to 
repel  any  attack  which  may  be 
made  on  them  from  any  quarter. 

The  gentleman,  in  commenting 
on  the  policy  of  the  Government, 
in  relation  to  the  new  States,  has 
introduced  to  our  notice  a  certain 
JVathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts, 
to  whom  he  attributes  the  cele- 
brated Ordinance  of '87,  by  which 
he  tells  us,  '  slavery  was  forever 
excluded  from  the  new  States 
north  of  the  Ohio.'  After  eulo- 
gizing the  wisdom  of  this  provis- 
ion, in  terms  of  the  most  extrava- 
gant praise,  he  breaks  forth  in 
admiratiom  of  the  greatness  of 
Nathan  Dane.  It  is  a  little  un- 
fortunate for  the  fame  of  this  great 
legislator,  that  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri  should  have  proved  that 
he  was  not  the  author  of  the  Or- 
dinance of  '87.  I  doubt  not  the 
Senator  will  feel  some  compassion 
for  our  ignorance,  when  I  tell 
him,  that  so  little  are  we  acquaint- 
ed with  the  modern  great  men  of 
New  England,  that  until  he  in- 
formed us  yesterday,  that  we  pos- 
sessed a  Solon  and  a  Lycurgus, 
in  the  person  of  Nathan  Dane,  he 
was  only  known  to  the  South  as  a 
member  of  a  celebrated  assembly, 


called  and  known  by  the  name  of 
the '  Hartford  Convention.'  In  the 
proceedings  of  that  assembly, 
which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  will  be 
found,  in  a  few  lines,  the  history 
of  Nathan  Dane ;  and  a  little  fur- 
ther on,  there  is  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  that  ardent  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  the  new  States, 
which  it  seems  has  given  him  a 
just  claim  to  the  title  of  'Father 
of  the  West.'  By  the  second 
resolution  of  the  *  Hartford  Con- 
vention,' it  is  declared,  'that  it  is 
expedient  to  attempt  to  make 
provision/or  restraining  Congress 
in  ths  exercise  of  an  unlimited 
power  to  make  new  States,  and 
admit  them  into  the  Union.'  So 
much  for  Nathan  Dane,  of  Bev- 
erly, Massachusetts. 

In  commenting  upon  my  views, 
in  relation  to  the  public  lands,  the 
gentleman  insists,  that  it  being 
one  of  the  conditions  of  the  grants^ 
that  these  lands  should  be  applied 
to  '  the  common  benefit  of  al! 
the  States,  they  must  always  re- 
main a  fund  for  revenue;^  and 
adds,  '  they  must  be  treated  as  so 
much  treasure.'*  I  think  he  has 
applied  a  rule  of  construction  too 
narrow  for  the  case.  If  in  the 
deeds  of  cession,  it  has  been  de- 
clared that  the  grants  were  in- 
tended for  '  the  common  benefit 
of  all  the  States,'  it  is  clear,  from 
other  provisions,  that  they  were 
not  intended  merely  as  so  much 
property;  for  it  is  expressly  de- 
clared, that  the  object  of  the 
grants  is  the  erection  of  new 
States ;  and  the  United  States, 
in  accepting  this  trust,  bind  them- 
selves to  facilitate  the  formation 
of  these  States,  to  be  admitted 
into  the  Union,  with  all  the  rights 


76 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1629  —  30. 


and  privilegcsof  the  original  Stales. 
This,  sir,  was  the  great  end  to 
which  all  parties  looked,  and  it 
is  by  the  iblfilment  of  this  high 
trust  that  'the common  benefit  of 
all  the  States'  is  to  be  best  pro- 
moted. But  if  we  are  bound  to 
act  on  these  narrow  principles,  I 
am  wholly  at  a  loss  to  conceive 
how  he  can  reconcile  them  with 
his  own  practice.  The  lands 
■are,  it  seems,  to  be  treated  '  as 
so  much  treasure,'  and  must  be 
applied  to  the  '  common  benefit 
of  all  the  States.'  Now,  if  this 
be  so,  whence  does  he  derive  the 
right  to  appropriate  them  for 
partial  and  local  objects.  How 
can  1)6  consent  to  vote  away  im- 
mense bodies  of  these  lands,  for 
canals  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  to 
the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal, 
to  Kenyon  College,  in  Ohio,  to 
schools  for  the  deaf  and  dumb, 
and  other  objects  of  a  similar 
description  ?  If  grants  of  this 
character  can  fairly  be  consider- 
ed as  made  for  the  'common 
benefit  of  all  the  States,'  it  can 
only  be,  because  all  the  States 
are  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
each  —  a  principle  which,  car- 
ried to  the  full  extent,  destroys  all 
^distinction  between  local  and  na- 
tional objects ;  and  is  certainly 
hroad  enovgh  to  embrace  the 
princij)les  for  which  I  have  ven- 
tured to  contend.  The  tme  dif- 
ference between  us,  I  take  to  be 
this;  the  gentleman  wishes  to 
treat  the  public  lands  as  a  great 
treasure,  just  as  so  much  money 
in  the  treasury,  to  be  applied  to 
all  objects,  constitutional  and  un- 
constitutional, to  which  the  pub- 
lic money  is  now  constantly  ap- 
plied.   1  consider  it  as  a  sacred 


trust,  which  we  ought  to  fulfil,  on 
the  principles  for  which  I  have 
contended. 

The  Senator  from  IMassachu- 
setts  has  thought  proper  to  pre- 
sent, in  strong  contrast,  the  friend- 
ly feelings  of  the  East  towards  the  - 
WeM,  will)  sentiments  of  an  oppo- 
site character  displayed  by  the 
South,  in  relation  to  appropria- 
tions for  internal  improvement. 
That  gentleman  at  the  same  time, 
acknowledged  that  the  South  en- 
tertains constituiiGnal  scruples  on 
this  subject.  Are  we  then,  sir, 
to  understand  that  he  considers  it 
a  just  subject  of  reproach,  that 
we  re?pecl  our  oaths,  by  which 
we  are  bound  '  to  preserve,  pro- 
tect and  defend  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States?'  No,  sir,  T 
will  not  do  the  gentleman  so  great 
injustice.  He  has  fallen  into  this 
error  from  not  having  duly  weigh- 
ed the  force  and  efl^ect  of  the  re- 
proach which  he  was  endeavoring 
to  cast  upon  the  South.  In  rela- 
tion to  the  other  point,  the  friend- 
ship manifested  by  New  England 
towards  the  West,  in  their  sup- 
port of  the  system  of  internal  im- 
provement, the  gentlemnn  will 
pardon  me  for  saying,  that  I  think 
he  is  equally  unfortunate  in  hav- 
ing introducetl  that  topic.  As  he 
has  forced  it  upon  us,  however,  1 
cannot  suffer  it  to  pass  unnoticed. 
When  he  tells  us  that  the  appro- 
priations for  internal  improvement 
in  the  West,  would,  in  almost 
every  instance,  have  failed,  but 
for  New  England  votes,  he  has 
forgotten  to  tell  us  the  when,  the 
how  and  the  wherefore,  this 
new  born  zeal  for  the  West  sprung 
up  in  the  bosom  of  New  England. 
If  we  look  back  only  a  few  years, 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


77 


we  will  find,  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  a  unifornn  and  steady 
opposition,  on  the  part  of  the 
f  jienibers  from  the  Eastern  States, 
generally,  to  oil  appropriations  of 
this  character. 

It  must  be  well  known  to  every 
one  whose  experience  dates  back 
as  fa*  as  1825,  that  up  to  a  certain 
period,  New  England  was  gener- 
ally opposed  to  appropriations  for 
internal    improvements   in  tha 
West.  The  gentleman  from  Mas- 
sachusetts may  be  himself  an  ck- 
ception,  but  if  he  went  for  the 
system  before  1825,  it  is  certain 
that  his  colleagues  did  not  go  with 
him.    In  the  session  of  1824  and 
1825,  however,  (a  memorable 
era  in  the  history  of  this  country) 
a  wonderful  change  took  place  in 
New  England,  in  relation  to  Wes- 
tern interests.    An  extraordinary 
union  of  sympathies  and  of  inter- 
ests was   then  effected,  which 
brought  the  East  and  the  West 
into  close  alliance.    The  book 
from  which  1  have  before  read, 
contains  the  first  public  annuncia- 
tion of  that  happy  reconciliation 
of  conflicting  interests,  personal 
and  political,  which  brought  the 
East  and  West  together,  and 
locked  in  a  fraternal  embrace  the 
two  great  orators  of  the  East  and 
the  West.    Sir,  it  was  on  the 
ISth  January,  1825,  while  the 
result  of  the  Presidential  election, 
in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
was  still  doubtful,  while  the  whole 
country  was  looking  with  intense 
anxiety  to    that  legislative  hall, 
where  the  mighty  drama  was  so 
soon  to  be  acted,  that  we  saw  the 
leaders  of  two  great  parties  in  the 
house  and  in  the  nation,  '  taking 
sweet  counsel  together,'  and  in 
a  celebrated  debate  on  the  Cum- 


berland Road,  fighting  side  by 
side  for  western  interests.  It  was 
on  that  memorable  occasion  that 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
held  out  the  white  flag  to  the 
West,  and  uttered  those  liberal 
sentiments,  which  he,  yesterday, 
so  indignantly  repudiated.  Then 
it  was,  that  that  happy  union  be- 
tween the  members  of  the  cele- 
brated coalition  was  consumma- 
ted, whose  immediate  issue  was  a 
President  from  one  quarter  of  the 
Union,  with  a  succession,  (as  was 
supposed)  secured  to  another. 
The  '  American  System,'  before 
a  rude,  disjointed  and  misshapen- 
ed  mass,  now  assumed  form  and 
consistency.  Then  it  was,  that 
it  become  ^  the  settled  pohcy  of 
the  Government,'  that  this  system 
should  be  so  administered  as  to 
create  a  reciprocity  of  interests, 
and  a  reciprocal  distribution  of 
government  favors, —  East  and 
West,  (the  tariff  and  internal  im- 
provements) while  the  South  — > 
yes,  sir,  the  impracticable  South, 
was  to  be  '  out  of  your  protection.' 

The  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts, in  alluding  to  a  remark 
of  mine,  that,  before  any  dispo- 
sition could  be  made  o  the  public 
lands,  the  national  debt  (for 
which  they  stand  pledged)  must 
be  first  paid,  took  occasion  to  in- 
timate '  that  the  extraordinary 
fervor  which  seems  to  exist  in  a 
certain  quarter  [meaning  the 
South,  sir]  for  the  payment  of 
the  debt,  arises  from  a  disposition 
10  weaken  the  ties  which  bind  the 
people  to  the  Union.''  While  he 
deals  us  this  blow,  he  professes 
an  ardent  desire  to  see  the  debt 
speedily  extinguished.  He  must 
excuse  me,  however,  for  feeling 
some  distrust  on  that  subject  until 


78 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


I  find  this  disposition  manifested 
by  something  stronger  than  pro- 
fessions. Sir,  if  I  were  at  hberty 
to  judge  of  the  course  which  he 
would  pursue,  from  the  princi- 
pies  which  he  has  laid  dowMi  in 
relation  to  this  matter,  I  should 
be  bound  to  conclude,  that  he 
^vill  be  found  acting  with  those 
Avith  whom  it  is  a  darling  object 
to  prevent  the  payment  of  the  pub- 
he  debt. 

Sir,  let  me  tell  that  gentleman, 
that  the  South  repudiates  the  idea 
that  a  pecuniary  dependence  on 
tlie  Federal  Government  is  one 
of  the  legitimate  means  of  holding 
the  States  together.  A  moneyed 
interest  in  the  Government  is  es- 
sentially a  base  interest.  The 
link  which  binds  the  public  credi- 
tors, as  such,  to  their  country, 
binds  them  equally  to  all  Govern- 
ments, whether  arbitrary  or  free. 
In  a  free  Government,  this  princi- 
ple of  abject  dependence,  if  ex- 
tended through  all  the  ramifica- 
tions of  society,  must  be  fatal  to 
liberty.  Already  have  we  made 
alarming  strides  in  that  direction. 
The  entire  class  of  manufacturers, 
the  holders  of  stocks,  with  their 
hundreds  of  millions  of  capita], 
are  held  to  the  Government  by 
the  strong  link  o{ pecuniary  inter- 
ests ;  millions  of  people,  entire 
sections  of  country,  interested,  or 
believing  themselves  to  be  so,  in 
the  public  lands,  and  the  public 
treasure,  are  bound  to  the  Gov- 
ernment by  the  expectation  of 
pecuniary  favors.  If  'this  sys- 
tem is  carried  much  farther,  no 
•man  can  fail  to  see,  that  every 
generous  motive  of  attachment  to 
tiie  country  will  be  destroyed, 
and  in  its  place  will  spring  up 
tijose  low,  grovelling,  base  and 


selfish  feelings  which  bind  men 
to  the  footstool  of  a  despot  by- 
bonds  as  strong  and  enduring  as 
those  which  attach  them  to  free 
institutions. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  has  gone  out  of  his 
way  to  pass  a  high  culogium  on 
the  State  of  Ohio.  In  the  most 
impassioned  tones  of  eloquence, 
he  described  her  majestic  march 
to  greatness.  Me  told  us  that, 
having  already  left  all  the  other 
States  far  behind,  she  was  now 
passing  by  Virginia  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  about  to  take  her  sta- 
tion by  the  side  of  New  York. 
To  all  this  1  \tas  disposed  most 
cordially  to  respond.  When, 
however,  he  proceeded  to  contrast 
the  State  of  Ohb  WMth  Kentucky, 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  latter, 
I  listened  to  him  with  regret ;  and 
when  he  proceeded  further  to  at- 
tribute the  great,  and,  as  he  sup- 
posed, acknowledged  superiority 
of  the  former  in  population, 
wealth,  and  general  prosperity,  to 
the  policy  of  Nathan  Dane,  of 
PvTassachusetts,  which  had  secured 
to  the  people  of  Ohio,  (by  the 
Ordinance  of  '87)  a  po-pulation 
of  free  men,  I  will  confess  that 
my  feelings  suffered  a  revulsion, 
which  I  am  now  unable  to  de- 
scribe in  any  language  sufficiently 
respectful  towards  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts.  In  contrast- 
ing the  State  of  Ohio  with  Ken- 
tucky, for  the  purpose  of  })ointing 
out  the  superiority  of  the  former, 
and  of  attributing  that  superiority 
to  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  one 
State,  and  its  absence  in  the 
other,  I  thought  I  could  discern 
the  very  spi?'it  of  the  Missouri 
question  intruded  into  this  de- 
bate, for  objects  best  known  to 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


79 


the  gentleman  himself.  Did  that 
gentleman,  when  he  formed  the 
determination  to  cross  the  south- 
ern border,  in  order  to  invade  the 
State  of  Soiuli  Carolina,  deem  it 
prudent  or  necessary  to  enlist  un- 
der his  banners  the  prejudices  of 
the  world,  which,  like  Swiss 
troops,  may  be  engaged  in  any 
cause,  and  are  prepared  to  serve 
under  any  leader  ?  Or  was  it 
supposed  that,  in  a  premeditated 
and  unprovoked  attack  upon  the 
Soudi,  it  was  advisable  to  begin 
by  a  gentle  admonition  of  our 
supposed  weakness,  in  order  to 
prevent  us  from  making  that  firm 
and  manly  resistance,  due  to  our 
own  character  and  our  dearest 
interest?  Mr  President,  the  im- 
pression which  has  gone  abroad, 
of  the  weakness  of  the  South,  as 
connected  with  the  slave  question, 
exposes  us  to  such  constant  at- 
tacks, has  done  us  so  much  inju- 
ry, and  is  calculated  to  produce 
such  infinite  mischiefs,  that  I  em- 
brace the  occasion  presented  by 
the  remarks  of  the  gendeman  of 
Massachusetts,  to  declare  that  we 
are  ready  to  meet  the  question 
promptly  and  fearlessly. 

We  are  ready  to  make  up  the 
issue  with  the  gentleman,  us  to 
the  influence  of  slavery  on  indi- 
vidual and  national  character  — 
on  the  j)rosperity  and  greatness, 
either  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
pardcular  States.  When  arraign- 
ed before  the  bar  of  public  opin- 
ion, on  his  charge  of  slavery,  we 
can  stand  up  with  conscious  rec- 
titude, plead  not  guilty,  and  put 
ourselves  upon  God  and  our 
country.  We  will  not  stop  to  in- 
quire whether  the  black  man,  as 
some  philosophers  have  contend- 
ed, is  of  an  inferior  race,  nor 


whether  his  color  and  condition 
are  the  effects  of  a  curse  inflicted 
for  die  offences  of  his  ancestors? 
We  deal  in  no  abstractions.  We 
will  not  look  back  to  inquire 
wheUier  our  fathers  were  guihless 
in  introducing  slaves  into  this 
country.  If  an  inquiry  should 
ever  be  instituted  in  these  mat- 
ters, hovvever,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  profits  of  the  slave  trade  were 
not  confined  to  the  South.  South- 
ern ships  and  Southern  sailors 
were  not  the  instruments  of  bring- 
ing slaves  to  the  shores  of  Ameri- 
ca, nor  did  our  merchants  reap 
the  profits  of  that  '  accursed  traf- 
fic' But  we  will  pass  over  all 
this.  If  slavery,  as  it  now  ex- 
ists in  this  country,  be  an  evil, 
we  of  die  present  day,  found  it 
ready  made  to  our  hands.  Find- 
ing our  lot  cast  among  a  people 
whom  God  had  manifestly  com- 
mitted to  our  care,  we  did  not  sit 
down  to  speculate  on  abstract 
questions  of  theoretical  liberty. 
We  met  it  as  a  practical  question 
of  ohligation  and  duty.  We  re- 
solved to  make  the  best  of  the 
situation  in  which  Providence  had 
placed  us,  and  to  fulfil  the  high 
trust  which  had  devolved  upon  us 
as  the  owners  of  slaves,  in  the 
only  way  in  which  such  a  trust 
could  be  fulfilled  without  spread- 
ing misery  and  ruin  throughout  the 
land.  We  found  that  we  had  to 
deal  with  a  people  whose  physical, 
moral  and  intellectual  habits  and 
character,  totally  disqualified  them 
from  the  enjoyment  of  the  bles- 
sings of  freedom.  We  could  not 
send  them  back  to  the  shores 
from  whence  their  fathers  had 
been  taken ;  their  numbers  for- 
bade the  thought,  even  if  we  did 
not  know  that  their  condition  here 


80 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


is  infinitely  preferable  to  what  it 
possibly  could  be  among  the  bar- 
ren sands  and  savage  tribes  of  Af- 
rica ;  and  it  was  wholly  irreconci- 
lable with  all  our  notions  of  hu- 
manity to  tear  asunder  the  tender 
ties  which  they  had  formed  among 
us,  to  gratify  the  feelings  of  a  false 
philandiropy. 

When  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  adopts  and  reiter- 
ates the  old  charge  of  weakness 
as  resulting  from  slavery,  I  must 
be  permitted  to  call  for  the  proof 
of  those  blighting  effects  which  he 
ascribes  to  its  influence. 

It  is  a  popular  error  to  suppose 
that,  in  any  possible  state  of  things, 
the  people  of  a  country  could  be 
called  out  en  masse,  or  that  half, 
or  a  third,  or  even  a  fifth  part  of 
the  physical  force  of  any  country 
could  ever  be  brought  into  the 
field.  The  difi.iculty  is  not  to 
procure  men,  but  to  provide  the 
means  of  maintaining  them  ;  and 
in  this  view  of  the  subject  it  may 
be  asked  whether  the  Southern 
States  are  not  a  source  ohircngih 
ai\d  poioer,  and  not  of  weakness  to 
the  country  ? 

1  know  it  has  been  supposed 
by  certain  ill-informed  persons, 
that  the  South  exists  only  by  the 
countenance  and  protection  of  the 
North.  This  is  the  idlest  of  all 
idle  and  ridiculous  fancies  that 
ever  entered  into  the  mind  of 
man.  In  every  state  of  this 
Union,  except  one,  the  free  white 
population  actually  preponderates ; 
while  in  the  British  West  India 
Islands,  (where  the  average  white 
population  is  less  than  ten  per 
cent  of  the  whole)  the  slaves  are 
kept  in  entire  subjection;  it  is 
preposterous  to  suppose  that  the 


Southern  States  could  ever  find 
the  sniallest  difficulty  in  this  re- 
spect. On  this  subject,  as  on  all 
others,  we  ask  nothing  of  our 
Northern  brethren  but  to  '  let  us 
alone.'  Leave  us  to  the  undis- 
turbed management  of  our  domes- 
tic concerns,  and  the  direction  of 
our  own  industry,  and  we  will  ask 
no  more. 

But,  whatever  difference  of 
opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  effect 
of  slavery  on  national  wealth  and 
prosperity,  if  we  may  trust  to  ex- 
perience, there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  has  never  yet  produced  any 
injurious  effect  on  individual  or 
national  character.  Look  through 
the  whole  history  of  the  country, 
from  the  commencement  of  the 
revolution  down  to  the  present 
hour ,  where  are  there  to  be  found 
brighter  examples  of  intellectual 
and  moral  greatness,  than  h.avc 
been  exhibited  by  the  sons  of  the 
South  From  the  Father  of 
His  Cot:ntry,  down  to  the  dis- 
tinguished Chieftain,  who  has 
been  elevated  by  a  grateful  peo- 
ple to  the  highest  office  in  their 
gift,  the  interval  is  filled  up  by  a 
long  line  of  orators,  of  statesmen, 
and  of  heroes,  justly  entitled  to 
rank  among  the  ornaments  of  their 
country,  and  the  benefactors  of 
mankind.  Look  at '  the  Old  Do- 
minion,' great  and  magnanimous 
Virginia,  '  whose  jewels  are  her 
sons.'  Is  there  any  State  in  this 
Union  which  has  contributed  so 
much  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of 
the  country Sir,  I  will  yield 
the  whole  question  —  1  will  ac- 
knowledge the  fatal  effects  of 
slavery  upon  character,  if  any  one 
can  say,  that  for  noble  disinter- 
estedness, ardent  love  of  country, 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE.  81 

exalted  virtue,  and  a  pure  and    promotion  of  injustice,  causing 
holy  devotion  to  liberty,  the  peo-    domestic  discord,  and  depriving 
pie  of  the  Southern  States  have    the  States  and  the  people  '  of  the 
ever  been   surpassed  by  any  in    blessings  of  liberty'  forever, 
the  world.  The  gentleman  boasts  of  be- 

In  the  ceurse  of  my  former    longing  to  the  party  of  National 
remarks,   Mr  President,  I  took    Republicans.  National  Repub- 
occasion  to  deprecate,  as  one  of  licans  !  —  a  new  name,  for  a  very 
the  greatest  evils,  the  coiisolida-    old  thing.    The  national  repub- 
tion  of  this  Government.  The  gen-    licans  of  the  present  day  were  the 
tieman  takes  alarm  at  the  sound,  federalists  of  '98,  who  became 
^  Consolidation,  like  the  tariff,'  federal  republicans  during  the  war 
grates  upon  his  ear.     He  tells   of  1812,  and  were  manufactured 
us '  we  have  heard  much  of  late    into  national  republicans  some- 
about  consolidation  ;  that  it  is  the    where  about  the  year  1825.  As 
rallying  word  for  all  who  are  en-    a  party,  (by  whatever  name  dis- 
deavoring  to  weaken  the  Union,    tinguished,)  they  have  always  been 
by  adding  to  the  power  of  the    animated  by  the  same  principles. 
States.'    But  consolidation  (says    and  have  kept  steadily  in  view  a 
the  gentleman)  was  the  very  ob-    common  object,  the  consolidation 
ject  for  which  the   Union  was   of  the  Government.    The  party 
formed ;  and,  in  support  of  that   to  which  I  am  proud  of  having 
opinion,  he  read  a  passage  from    belonged,  from  the   very  com- 
the  address  of  the  President  of  mencement  of  my  political  life  to 
the    Convention    to    Congress,    the  present  day,  were  the  Demo- 
which  he  assumes  to  be  authority   crats  of  '98,  [Anarchists,  Anti- 
on  his  side  of  the  question.    The   Federalists, Revolutionists,!  think 
gentleman  is  mistaken.    The  ob-   they  were    sometimes  called.) 
ject  of  the  framers  of  the  Con-    They  assumed  the  name  of  l)em-. 
stitution,  as  disclosed  in  that  ad-    ocratic  Republicans  m  IS22,  and 
dress,  was  not  the  consolidation    have  retained    their  name  and 
of  the  Government,  but  '  the  con-,    principles  up  to  the  present  hour., 
sohdation  of  the  Union.'    It  was    True  to  their  political  faith,  they 
not  to  draw  power  from  the  States    have  always,  as  a  party,  been  in 
in  order  to  transfer  it  to  a  great    favor  of  limitations  of  power ; 
National  Government,  but,  in  the    they  have  insisted  that  all  powers 
language  of  the  Constitution  itself,    not  delegated  to  the  Federal  Gov-. 

*  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union,''  ernment  are  reserved  ;  and  have 
— -  and   by    what    means  ?    By    been  constantly  struggling,  as  thjey 

*  establishing  justice,  promoting  now  are,  to  preserve  the  rights  of 
domestic  tranquillity,  and  securing  the  States,  and  to  prevent  them 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  from  being  swallowed  up  by  one 
and  our  posterity  ? '  But,  accord-  great  consolidated  government, 
ing  to  the  gentleman's  reading,  The  true  distinction  between 
the  object  of  the  Constitution  was  these  parties  is  laid  down  in  a 
to  consolidate  the  Government,  and  celebrated  manifesto  issued  by  the 
the  means  would  seem  to  be,  the    Convention  of  the  Federalists  of 


\ 


ANNUAL  RJEGISTER,  1829 —  SO. 


Massachusetts,  assembled  in  Bos- 
ion,  in  February,  1824,  on  the 
occasion  of  organizing  a  party 
opposition  to  the  reelection  of 
Governor  Eustis.  The  gentleman 
will  recognise  this  as  '  the  canon- 
ical book  of  political  scripture  ;' 
and  it  instructs  us  that,  '  when  the 
American  Colonies  redeemed 
themselves  from  British  bondage, 
and  became  so  many  independent 
nations,  they  proposed  to  form  a 
National  Union  —  (not  zl  fed- 
eral Union,  sir,  but  a  National 
Union.)  Those  who  were  in  favor 
of  a  union  of  the  States  in  this 
form,  became  known  by  the  name 
o(  federalists  ;  those  who  wanted 
no  union  of  the  States,  or  dis- 
liked the  proposed  form  of  union, 
became  known  by  the  name  of 
anti-federalists. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts,  while  he  exoner- 
ates me  personally,  from  the 
charge,  intimates  that  there  is  a 
party  in  the  country  who  are 
looking  to  disunion.  If  he  had 
stopped  there,  the  accusation 
would  have  '  passed  by  me  as  the 
idle  wind  which  I  regard  not.' 
But  when  he  goes  on  to  give  to 
his  accusation  a  local  habitation 
and  a  name,  by  quoting  the  ex- 
pression of  a  distinguished  citizen 
of  South  Carolina,  (Dr  Cooper) 
*  that  it  was  time  for  the  South  to 
calculate  the  value  of  the  Union,' 
an()  in  the  language  of  the  bitter- 
est sarcasm,  adds,  '  surely  then 
the  Union  cannot  last  longer  than 
July,  1831,'  —  it  is  impossible  to 
mistake  either  the  allusion,  or  the 
object  of  the  gentleman.  The 
Senate  will  do  me  the  justice  to 
remember,  that  at  the  time  this 
unprovoked  and  uncalled  for  at- 


tack was  made  upon  the  Soutb, 
not  one  word  had  been  uttered 
by  me,  in  disparagement  of  New 
England,  nor  had  I  made  the 
most  distant  allusion  either  to  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts,  or 
the  State  he  represents.  But, 
that  gentleman  has  thought  proper, 
for  purposes  best  known  to  him- 
self, to  strike  the  South,  through 
me,  the  most  unworthy  of  her 
servants.  He  has  crossed  the 
border,  he  has  invaded  the  State 
of  South  Carolina,  is  making  war 
upon  her  citizens,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  overthrow  her  principles 
and  her  institutions.  When  he 
provokes  me  to  such  a  conflict, 
I  meet  him  at  the  threshold. 

It  is  with  unfeigned  reluctance, 
Mr  President,  that  I  enter  upon 
the  performance  of  this  part  of 
my  duty  —  I  shrink  almost  instinc- 
tively from  a  course,  however  ne- 
cessary, which  may  have  a  tenden- 
cy to  excite  sectional  feelings,  and 
sectional  jealousies.  But  the  task 
has  been  forced  upon  me ;  and  I 
proceed  right  onward  to  the  per- 
formance of  my  duty.  Be  the 
consequences  what  they  may,  the 
responsibility  is  with  those  who 
have  imposed  upon  me  this  ne- 
cessity. The  Senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts has  thought  proper  to 
cast  the  first  stone  ;  and  if  he 
shall  find,  according  to  a  homely 
adage,  'that  he  lives  in  a  glass 
house'  —  on  his  head  be  the  con- 
sequences. If  there  be  one  State 
in  the  Union,  Mr  President,  (and 
I  say  it  not  in  a  boastful  spirit)  that 
may  challenge  comparisons  with 
any  other  for  a  uniform,  zealous, 
ardent  and  uncalculating  devotion 
to  the  Union,  that  State  is  South 
Carolina.    From  the  very  com- 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


mencement  of  the  Revolution  up 
to  this  hour,  there  is  no  sacrifice, 
however  great,  she  has  not  cheer- 
fully made ;  no  service  she  has 
ever  hesitated  to  perform.  She 
has  adhered  to  you  in  your  pros- 
perity ;  but  in  your  adversity  she 
lias  clung  to  you  with  more  than 
filial  affection. 

What,  sir,  was  the  conduct  of 
the  South  during  the  Revolution.^ 
I  honor  New  England  for  her 
conduct  in  that  glorious  struggle. 
But  great  as  is  the  praise  which 
belongs  to  her,  I  think  at  least 
equal  honor  is  due  to  the  South. 
They  espoused  the  quarrel  of  their 
brethren,  with  a  generous  zeal, 
which  did  not  suffer  them  to  stop 
to  calculate  their  interest  in  the 
dispute.  Favorites  of  the  mother 
country,  possessed  of  neither  ships 
nor  seamen  to  create  a  commercial 
rivalship,  they  might  have  found 
in  their  situation  a  guarantee,  that 
their  trade  would  be  forever  fos- 
tered and  protected  by  Great  Brit- 
ain. But  trampling  on  all  con- 
siderations either  of  interest  or  of 
safety,  they  rushed  into  the  con- 
flict, and  fighting  for  principle, 
perilled  all,  in  the  sacred  cause  of 
freedom.  Never  was  there  ex- 
hibited in  the  history  of  the  world 
higher  examples  of  noble  daring, 
dreadful  suffering  and  heroic  en- 
durance, than  by  the  whigs  of 
Carolina,  during  the  Revolution. 
The  whole  State,  from  the  moun- 
tains to  the  sea,  was  overrun  by 
an  overwhelming  force  of  the  ene- 
my. The  fruits  of  industry  per- 
ished on  the  spot  where  they 
were  produced,  or  were  consumed 
by  the  foe.  The  '  plains  of  Car- 
olina' drank  up  the  most  precious 
blood  of  her  citizens  !  Black  and 


smoking  ruins  marked  the  places 
which  had  been  the  habitations  of 
her  children  !  Driven  from  their 
homes,  into  the  gloomy  and  almos 
impenetrable  swamps,  even  there 
the  spirit  of  liberty  survived,  and 
South  Carolina  (sustained  by  the 
example  of  her  Sumpters  and  her 
Marions,)  proved  by  her  conduct, 
thatthough  her  soil  might  be  over- 
run, the  spirit  of  her  people  was 
invincible. 

But  our  country  was  soon  call- 
ed upon  to  engage  in  another  re- 
volutionary struggle,  and  that  too 
was  a  struggle  for  principle.  I 
mean  the  political  revolution  which 
dates  back  to  '98,  and  which,  if  it 
had  not  been  successfully  achiev- 
ed, would  have  left  us  none  of 
the  fruits  of  the  revolution  of  '76. 
The  revolution  of  '98  restored 
the  Constitution,  rescued  the  Hb- 
erty  of  the  chlzen  from  the  grasp  of 
those  who  were  aiming  at  its  life, 
and  in  the  emphatic  language  of 
Mr  Jefferson,  '  saved  the  Consti- 
tution at  its  last  gasp.'  And  by 
whom  was  it  achieved.**  By  the 
South,  aided  only  by  the  democ- 
racy of  the  North  and  West. 

1  come  now  to  the  war  of  1812, 
a  war  which  I  well  remember  was 
called  in  derision,  (while  its  event 
was  doubtful,)  the  Southern  war, 
and  sometimes  the  Carolina  war  ; 
but  which  is  now  universally  ac- 
knowledged to  have  done  more 
for  the  honor  and  prosperity  of 
the  country,  than  all  other  events 
in  our  history  put  together.  What 
were  the  objects  of  that  war  ? 
'  Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights  ! ' 
It  was  for  the  protection  of  North- 
ern shipping  and  New  England 
seamen,  that  the  country  flew  to 
arms.     What  interest  had  the 


84 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


South  in  that  contest?  If  they 
had  sat  down  coolly  to  calculate 
the  value  of  their  interests  involv- 
ed in  it,  they  would  have  found 
that  they  had  everything  to  lose, 
and  nothing  to  gain.  But  with 
that  generous  devotion  to  country 
so  characteristic  of  the  South,  they 
only  asked,  if  the  rights  of  any 
portion  of  their  fellow-citizens  had 
been  invaded  ;  and  when  told  that 
Northern  ships  and  New  England 
seamen  had  been  arrested  on  the 
common  highway  of  nations,  they 
felt  that  the  honor  of  their  country 
was  assailed  ;  and  acting  on  that 
exalted  sentiment  '  which  feels  a 
stain  like  a  wound,'  they  resolved 
to  seek  in  open  war,  for  a  redress 
of  those  injuries,  which  it  did  not 
become  freemen  to  endure.  The 
whole  South,  animated  as  by  a 
common  impulse,  cordially  united 
in  declaring  and  promoting  that 
ivar.  South  Carolina  sent  to  your 
councils,  as  the  advocates  and 
supporters  of  that  war,  the  noblest 
of  her  sons.  How  they  fulfilled 
that  trust,  let  a  grateful  country 
tell.  Not  a  measure  was  adopted, 
not  a  battle  fought,  not  a  victory 
won,  which  contributed  in  any  de- 
gree, to  the  success  of  that  war,  to 
which  Southern  councils  and 
Southern  valor  did  not  largelycon- 
tribute.  Since  South  Carolina  is 
assailed,  I  must  be  suffered  to 
speak  it  to  her  praise,  that  at  the 
very  moment  when  in  one  quarter, 
we  heard  it  solemnly  proclaimed 
'  that  it  did  not  become  a  religious 
and  moral  people  to  rejoice  at  the 
victories  of  our  army  or  our  navy,' 
her  Legislature  unanimously 

'  Resolved,  That  we  will  cor- 
•dially  support  the  Government  in 


the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war,  until  a  peace  can  be  obtained 
on  honorable  terms,  and  we  will 
cheerfully  submit  to  every  priva- 
tion that  may  be  required  of  us, 
by  our  Government,  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  object.' 

South  Carolina  redeemed  that 
pledge.  She  threw  open  her 
treasury  to  the  Government. 
She  put  at  the  absolute  disposal 
of  the  ofncers  of  the  United  States 
all  that  she  possessed  —  her  men, 
her  money  and  her  arms.  She 
appropriated  half  a  million  of 
dollars,  on  her  o'.vn  account,  in 
defence  of  her  maritime  frontier, 
ordered  a  brigade  of  State  troops 
to  be  raised,  and  when  left  to 
})rotect  herself  by  her  own  means, 
never  suffered  the  enemy  to  touch 
her  soil,  without  being  instantly 
driven  off  or  captured. 

Such  w^as  the  conduct  of  the 
South  —  such  the  conduct  of  my 
own  State  in  that  dark  hour 
^  which  tried  men's  souls.' 

When  I  look  back  and  con- 
template the  spectacle  exhibited 
at  that  time,  in  another  quarter  of 
the  Union,  when  I  think  of  the 
conduct  of  certain  portions  of 
New  England,  and  remember  the 
part  which  was  acted  on  that 
memorable  occasion  by  the  po- 
litical associates  of  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts — nay, 
when  I  follow  that  gentleman  into 
the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  lis- 
ten to  his  voice  during  the  darkest 
period  of  the  war,  I  am  indeed 
astonished  that  he  should  venture 
to  touch  upon  the  topics  which 
he  has  introduced  into  this  debate. 
South  Carolina  reproached  by 
Massachusetts  1  And  from  whom 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


does  the  accusation  come  ?  Not 
from  the  Democracy  of  New 
England  ;  for  they  have  heen  in 
times  past,  as  they  are  now,  the 
friends  and  allies  of  the  South. 
No,  sir,  the  accusation  comes 
from  that  party,  whose  acts,  dur- 
ing the  most  trying  and  eventful 
period  of  our  national  history, 
were  of  such  a  character  that 
their  own  Legislature,  but  a  few 
years  ago,  actually  blotted  them 
out  from  their  records,  as  a  stain 
upon  the  honor  of  the  country. 
But  how  can  they  ever  be  blotted 
out  from  the  recollection  of  any 
one  who  had  a  heart  to  feel,  a 
mind  to  comprehend  and  a  memo  - 
ry to  retain,  the  events  of  that 
day  ?  I  shall  not  attempt  ,  to 
write  the  history  of  the  party  in 
New  England,  to  which  I  have 
alluded  —  the  war  party  in  peac^? 
and  the  peace  party  in  >^ar. 
That  task  I  shall  leave  ta  some 
future  biographer  of  Nathan 
Dane,  and  I  doubt  no^  it  will  be 
found  quite  easy  ^  V^ove  that 
the  peace  party  c/  Massachusetts 
were  the  only  defenders  of  their 
country,  dur^ig  the  war,  and  ac- 
tually acK^ved  all  our  victories 
by  land  ^^^d  sea.  In  the  mean- 
time, sir,  and  until  that  history 
sha/1  be  written,  I  propose,  with 
ti'ie  feeble  and  glimmering  lights 
which  I  possess,  to  review  the 
conduct  of  this  party,  in  connex- 
ion with  the  war,  and  the  events 
which  immediately  preceded  it. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  our 
g;reat  causes  of  quarrel  with  Great 
Britain,  were  her  depredations  on 
Northern  commerce,  and  the  im- 
pressment of  New  England  sea- 
men. From  every  quarter  we 
were  called  upon  for  protection. 

8* 


Importunate  as  the  West  is  now 
represented  to  be,  on  another 
subject,  the  importunity  of  the 
East  on  that  occasion  was  far 
greater.  I  hold  in  my  hands  the 
evidence  of  the  fact.  Here  are 
petitions,  memorials  and  remon- 
strances, from  all  parts  of  New 
England,  setting  forth  the  injus- 
tice, the  oppressions,  the  depre- 
dations, the  insults,  the  outrages, 
committed  by  Gre?t  Britain 
against  the  unoffending  com- 
merce and  seamep  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  callir\f  "pon  Congress 
for  redress. 

The  copc^Lict  of  Great  Britain, 
we  werr  then  told,  was  *  an  out- 
rage ^pon  our  national  indepen- 
dence.' These  clamors,  which' 
commenced  as  early  as  January, 
1806,  were  continued  up  to  1812. 
In  a  message  from  the  Governor 
of  one  of  the  New  England 
States,  as  late  as  the  10th  of 
October,  1811,  this  language  is 
held  :  'A  manly  and  decisive 
course  has  become  indispensable  : 
a  course  to  satisfy  foreign  nations, 
that  while  we  desire  peace,  we 
have  the  means  and  the  spirit  to 
repel  aggression.  We  are  false 
to  ourselves,  when  our  commerce 
or  our  territory  is  invaded  witlt 
impunity.' 

About  this  time,  however,  a 
remarkable  change  was  observa- 
ble in  the  tone  and  temper  of 
those  who  had  been  endeavoring 
to  force  the  country  into  a  war. 
The  language  of  complaint  was 
changed  into  that  of  insult,  and 
calls  for  protection,  converted  in- 
to reproaches. 

The  war  at  length  came,  and 
what  did  we  behold  ?  The  very 
men  who  had  been  for  six  years 


8$ 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


clamorous  for  war,  and  for  whose 
protection  it  was  waged,  became 
at  once  equally  clamorous  against 
it.    They  had  received  a  miracu- 
lous visitation  ;  a  new  light  had 
suddenly    beamed    upon  their 
minds,  the  scales  fell  from  their 
eyes,  and  it  was  discovered  that 
the  war  was  declared  from  '  sub- 
sirviency  to  France;'    and  that 
Congress  and  the  Executive  ^  had 
sold  then.selves  to  Napoleon 
that  Great  Britain  had  in  fact 
'  done  us  no  essential  injury  that 
she  was  '  the  bulwark  of  our  re- 
ligion ;'that  where '  she  took  one 
of  our  ships,  she  prolt/^ted  twen- 
ty,'  and  that  if  Great  Bi\tain  had 
impressed  a  few  of  our  strinien, 
it  was  because  '  she  could  not 
distinguish  them  from  her  owl' 
And  so  far  did  this  spirit  extend, 
that  a  committee  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature  actually  fell 
to  calculation,  and  discovered,  to 
their  infinite  satisfaction,  but  to 
the  astonishment  of  all  the  world 
beside,  that  only  eleven  Massa- 
chusetts sailors  had   ever  been 
•impressed.    Wonderful  discove- 
ry !    The  Secretary  of  State  had 
collected  authentic  lists  of  no  less 
than    six    thousand  impressed 
Americans.    Lord  Castlereagh 
himself   acknowledged  sixteen 
hundred.     Calculations  on  the 
basis  of  the  number  found  on 
board  of  the  Guerriere,  the  Mace- 
donian, the  Java,  and  other  Brit- 
ish ships  (captured  by  the  skill 
and  gallantry  of  those  heroes, 
whose    achievements  are  the 
treasured    monuments  of  their 
country's  glory),  fixed  the  num- 
ber at  seven  thousand  ;  and  yet, 


it  seems,  Massachusetts  had  lost 
but  eleven  !  Eleven  Massachu- 
setts sailors  taken  by  mistake  !  A 
cause  of  war,  indeed  !  Their 
sinps,  too,  the  capture  of  whicii 
had  threatened  '  universal  bank- 
ruptcy,' it  was  discovered  that 
Great  Britain  was  their  friend  and 
protector  j  '  where  she  had  taken 
one,  she  had  protected  twenty.' 
Then  was  the  discovery  made 
that  subserviency  to  France,  hos- 
tility to  commerce,  '  a  determina- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  South  and 
the  West  to  break  down  the 
Eastern  States,  and  especially 
(as  reported  by  a  committee  of 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature), 
to  force  the  sons  of  commerce 
to  populate  the  wilderness,'  were 
the  true  causes  of  the  war.* 

But  let  us  look  a  litde  farther 
lato  the  conduct  of  the  peace 
pany  of  New  England,  at  that 
impouant  crisis.  Whatever  dif- 
ference of  opinion  might  have 
existed  as  to  the  causes  of  the 
war,  the  country  had  a  right  to 
expect  that  vhen  once  involv- 
ed in  the  conK^t,  all  America 
would  have  cordially  united  in 
its  support.  The  war  effected, 
in  its  progress,  a  union  oC  all  par- 
ties at  the  South.  But  naso  in 
New  England  ;  there,  greai  ef- 
forts were  made  to  stir  up  ii\e 
jTiinds  of  the  people  to  oppose  it. 
Nothing  was  left  undone  to  em- 
barrass the  financial  operations  of 
the  Government,  to  prevent  the 
enlistment  of  troops,  to  keep  back 
the  men  and  money  of  New  Eng- 
land from  the  service  of  the 
Lmion,  to  force  the  President  from 
his  seat.    Yes,  sir,  '  the  Island 


*  Olive  Branch,  pnges  134—  291. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


87 


of  Elba  !  or  a  halter  !'  were  the 
alternatives  they  presented  to  the 
excellent  and  venerable  James 
Madison.  The  war  was  further  op- 
posed by  openly  carrying  on  illicit 
trade  with  the  enemy,  by  permit- 
ting that  enemy  to  establish  herself 
on  the  very  soil  of  Massachusetts, 
and  by  opening  a  free  trade  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Ameri- 
ca, with  a  separate  Custom  House. 
Yes,  sir,  those  who  cannot  endure 
the  thought  that  we  should  insist 
on  a  free  trade  in  time  of  pro- 
found peace,  could  without  scru- 
ple claim  and  exercise  the  right 
of  carrying  on  a  free  trade  with 
the  enemy  in  a  time  of  war  ;  and 
finally  by  getting  up  the  renown- 
ed '  Hartford  Convention,'  and 
preparing  the  way  for  an  open 
resistance  to  the  Government, 
and  a  separation  of  the  States. 
If  I  am  asked  for  the  proof  of 
those  things,  I  fearlessly  appeal 
to  cotemporary  history,  to  the 
public  documents  of  the  country, 
to  the  recorded  opinions,  and 
acts  of  public  assemblies,  to  the 
declaration  and  acknowledgments, 
since  made,  of  the  Executive  and 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  her- 
self. 

Mr  Hayne  then  proceeded  to 
illustrate  the  prevailing  feeling  in 
the  Eastern  States  during  the 
war,  by  reading  extracts  from  the 
Olive  Branch,  in  which  are  col- 
lected quotations  from  the  speech- 
es of  excited  partisans,  fast  ser- 
mons of  political  divines,  and  es- 
says in  newspapers,  with  the  de- 
sign of  proving  the  disaffection 
of  the  inhabitants  of  those  States 
at  that  critical  moment.  He  then 
said,  that  — 

As  soon  as  the  public  mind 


was  sufficiently  prepared  for  tlie 
measure,  the  celebrated  Hartford 
Convention  was  got  up  ;  not  as  an 
act  of  a  few  unauthorized  indi- 
viduals, but  by  authority  of  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts.  I 
do  not  desire  to  call  in  question 
the  motives  of  the  gentlemen  who 
composed  that  assembly.  ]  knew 
many  of  them  to  be  in  private 
life  accomplished  and  honorable 
men,  and  1  doubt  not  there  were 
some  among  them  who  did  not 
perceive  the  dangerous  tendency 
of  their  proceedings.  I  will  even 
go  further,  and  say,  that  if  the 
authors  of  the  Hartford  Conven- 
tion believed,  that '  gross,  delibe- 
rate, and  palpable  violations  of 
the  Constitution'  had  taken  place, 
utterly  destructive  of  their  rights 
and  interests,  I  should  be  the  last 
man  to  deny  their  right  to  resort 
to  any  constitutional  measures  for 
redress.  But,  in  any  view  of  the 
case,  the  time  when,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances under,  which  that 
convention  assembled,  as  well  as 
the  measures  recommended,  ren- 
der their  conduct,  in  my  opinion, 
wholly  indefensible.  Let  us  con- 
template for  a  moment,  the 
spectacle  then  exhibited  to  the 
view  of  the  world.  I  will  not  go 
over  the  disasters  of  the  war,  nor 
describe  the  difficulties  in  which 
the  Government  was  involved.. 
It  will  be  recollected  that  its 
credit  was  nearly  gone.  Wash- 
ington had  fallen,  the  whole  coast 
was  blockaded,  and  an  immense 
force  collected  in  the  West  Indies 
was  about  to  make  a  descent, 
which  it  was  supposed  we  had  no 
means  of  resisting.  In  this  awful 
state  of  our  public  affairs,  when 
the  Government  seemed  almost 


88 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


to  be  tottering  on  its  base,  when 
'Great  Britain,  relieved  from  all 
her  other  enemies,  had  proclaim- 
ed her  purpose  of  '  reducing  us 
to  unconditional  submission'  — 
we  beheld  the  peace  party  of 
New  England  (in  the  language 
of  the  work  before  us),  pursuing 
a  course  calculated  to  do  more 
injury  to  their  country,  and  to 
render  England  more  eflective 
service  than  all  her  armies. 
Those  who  could  not  find  in  their 
hearts  to  rejoice  at  our  victories, 
sang  Te  Deum  at  the  King's 
Chapel,  in  Boston,  for  the  resto- 
ration of  the  Bourbons.  Those 
who  could  not  consent  to  illumi- 
nate their  dwellings  for  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Guerriere,  could  give 
visible  tokens  of  their  joy  at  the 
fall  of  Detroit.  The  *  beacon 
fires'  of  their  hills  were  lighted 
up,  not  for  the  encouragement  of 
their  friends,  but  as  signals  to  the 
enemy  ;  and  in  the  gloomy  hours 
of  midnight,  the  very  lights  burn- 
ed blue.  Such  were  the  dark 
and  portentous  signs  of  the  times, 
which  ushered  into  being  the  re- 
nowned Hartford  Convention. 
That  convention  met,  and  from 
their  proceedings  it  appears,  that 
their  chief  object  was  to  keep 
back  the  men  and  money  of  New 
England  from  the  service  of  the 
Union,  and  to  eftect  radical 
changes  in  the  Government  — 
changes  that  can  never  be  effect- 
ed without  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  trace  the 
matter  further,  or  to  ask  what 
would  have  been  the  next  chap- 
ter in  this  history,  if  the  measures 
recommended  had  been  carried 
into  effect ;  and  if,  with  the  men 


and  money  of  New  England 
withheld  from  the  Government  of 
the  Unhed  States,  she  had  been 
withdrawn  from  the  war  ;  if  New 
Orleans  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  and  if,  without 
troops  and  ahnost  destitute  of 
money,  the  Southern  and  the 
Western  Stales  had  been  thrown 
upon  their  own  resources  for  the 
})rosecution  of  the  war,  and  the 
recovery  of  New  Orleans  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  issue  of 
the  contest,  the  Union  must  have 
been  dissolved.  But  a  wise  and 
just  Providence,  which  '  shapes 
our  ends,  rough-hew  them  as  we 
will,'  gave  us  the  victory,  and 
crowned  our  efforts  with  a  glori- 
ous peace.  The  ambassadors 
of  Hartford  were  seen  retracing 
their  steps  from  Washington,  *  the 
bearers  of  the  glad  tidings  of 
great  joy.'  Courage  and  patriot- 
ism triumphed  — the  country  was 
saved —  the  Union  was  preserv- 
ed. And  are  we,  Mr  President, 
who  stood  by  our  country  then  ; 
who  threv/  open  our  coffers  ;  who 
bared  our  bosoms;  who  freely 
perilled  all  in  that  conflict,  to  be 
reproached  with  want  of  attach- 
ment to  the  Union If  we  are 
to  have  lessons  of  patriotism  read 
to  us,  they  must  come  from  a 
different  quarter. 

Mr  President,  I  wish  it  to  be 
distinctly  understood,  that  all  the 
remarks  I  have  made  on  this  sub- 
ject, are  intended  to  be  exclu- 
sively applied  to  a  party,  which 
1  have  described  as,  the  '  peace 
party  of  New  England.'  Sir,  no- 
thing has  been  further  from  my 
thoughts  than  to  impeach  the  char- 
acter or  conduct  of  the  people  of 
New  England.  For  their  steady 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


89 


habits  and  hardy  virtues,  I  trust  I 
entertain  a  becoming  respect.  I 
fully  subscribe  to  the  truth  of  the 
description  given  before  the  Rev- 
olution, by  one  whose  praise  is 
the  highest  eulogy,  '  that  the  per- 
severance of  Holland,  the  activity 
of  France,  and  the  dexterous 
and  firm  sagacity  of  English  en- 
terprise, have  been  more  than 
equalled  by  this  "recent  people. ' 
Hardy,  enterprising,  sagacious, 
industrious,  and  moral,  the  people 
of  New  England  of  the  present 
day,  are  worthy  of  their  ancestors. 
Still  less,  Mr  President,  has  it  been 
ray  intention  to  say  anything  that 
could  be  construed  into  a  want 
of  respect  for  that  party,  who, 
trampling  on  all  narrow,  sectional 
feelings,  have  been  true  to  their 
principles  in  the  worst  of  times 
—  1  mean  the  Democracy  of  New 
England. 

I  will  declare,  that,  highly  as  1 
appreciate  the  democracy  of  the 
South,  I  consider  even  higher 
praise  to  be  due  to  the  democracy 
of  New  England,  who  have  main- 
tained their  principles  '  through 
good  and  through  evil  report,' 
who,  at  every  period  of  our  na- 
tional history,  have  stood  up  man- 
fully for  'their  country,  their  whole 
country,  and  nothing  but  their 
country.'  In  the  great  political 
revolution  of  '98,  they  were  found 
unhed  with  the  democracy  of  the 
South,  marching  under  the  ban- 
ner of  the  constitution,  led  on  by 
the  patriarch  of  liberty,  in  search 
of  the  land  of  political  promise, 
which  they  lived  not  only  to  be- 
hold, but  to  possess  and  to  enjoy. 
Again,  in  the  darkest  and  most 
gloomy  period  of  the  war,  when 
our  country  stood  single  handed, 


against  '  the  conqueror  of  the  con- 
querors of  the  world,'  when  all 
about  and  around  them  was  dark 
and  dreary,  disastrous  and  dis- 
couraging, they  stood,  a  Spartaiii 
band,  in  that  narrow  pass,  where 
the  honor  of  their  country  was  to 
be  defended,  or  to  find  its  grave - 
And  in  the  last  great  struggle^ 
involving,  as  we  believe,  the  very 
existence  of  the  principle  of  pop- 
ular sovereignty,  where  were  the 
democracy  of  New  England  ? 
Where  they  always  have  been 
found,  struggling  side  by  side, 
with  their  brethren  of  the  South 
and  the  West,  for  popular  rights, 
and  assisting  in  their  glorious  tri- 
umph, by  which  the  man  of  the 
people  was  elevated  to  the  high- 
est office  in  their  gift. 

Who,  then,  Mr  President,  are 
the  true  friends  of  the  Union 
Those  who  would  confine  the 
Federal  Government  strictly  with- 
in the  limits  prescribed  by  the 
Constitution ;  who  would  pre-- 
serve  to  the  States  and  the  peo- 
ple all  powers  not  expressly  dele- 
gated ;  who  would  make  this  a 
federal  and  not  a  national  Union^ 
and  who,  administering  the  Gov- 
ernment  in  a  spirit  of  equal  jus- 
tice would  make  it  a  blessing, 
and  not  a  curse.  And  who  are 
its  enemies  Those  who  are  in 
favor  of  consolidation  —  who  are 
constantly  stealing  power  from 
the  States,  and  adding  strength 
to  the  Federal  Government. 
Who,  assuming  an  unwarrantable 
jurisdiction  over  the  States  and 
the  people,  undertake  to  regu- 
late the  whole  industry  and  capital 
of  the  country.  But,  of  all 
descriptions  of  men,  I  consider 
those  as  the  worst  enemies  q[ 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  Union,  who  sacrifice  ihe 
equal  rights  which  belong  to  every 
inember  of  the  confederacy,  to 
combinations  of  interested  ma- 
jorities, for  personal  or  political 
objects. 

The  Senator  from  Massachu- 
setts, in  denouncing  what  he  is 
pleased  to  call  the  Carolina  doc- 
trine, has  attempted  to  throw 
ridicule  upon  the  idea  that  a 
State  has  any  constitutional  reme- 
dy, by  the  exercise  of  its  sove- 
reign authority,  against  '  a  gross, 
palpable,  and  deliberate  violation 
of  the  Constitution.'  He  calls  it 
*  an  idle '  or  a  '  ridiculous  notion,' 
or  something  to  that  effect,  and 
added,  that  it  would  make  the 
Union  'a  mere  rope  of  sand.' 
As  the  gentleman  has  not  con- 
descended to  enter  into  any  ex- 
amination of  the  question,  and 
has  been  satisfied  with  throwing 
the  weight  of  his  authority  into 
the  scale,  I  do  not  deem  it  neces- 
sary to  do  more  than  to  throw 
into  the  opposite  scale  the  authori- 
ty on  which  South  Carolina  relies, 
and  there,  for  the  present,  I  am 
perfectly  willing  to  leave  the  con- 
iroversy.  The  South  Carolina 
doctrine,  that  is  to  say,  the  doc- 
trine contained  in  an  exposition 
reported  by  a  committee  of  the 
legislature  in  December,  1828, 
and  published  by  their  authority, 
it  is  the  good  old  republican  doc- 
trine of '98 — the  doctrine  of  the 
celebrated  *  Virginia  Resolutions' 
of  that  year,  and  of  '  Madison's 
Report '  of  '99.  It  will  be  re- 
collected that  the  legislature  of 
Virginia  in  December,  '98,  took 
into  consideration  the  Allen  and 
Sedition  laws,  then  considered  by 
all  republicans  as  a  gross  violation 


of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  on  that  day  passed, 
among  others,  the  following  reso- 
lutions. 

'  The  General  Assembly  doth 
explicitly  and  peremptorily  de- 
clare, that  it  views  the  powers  of 
the  Federal  Government  as  re- 
sulting from  the  compact  to  which 
the  States  are  parties,  as  limited 
by  the  plain  sense  and  intention 
of  the  instrument  constituting 
that  compact,  as  no  farther  valid 
than  they  are  authorized  by  the 
grants  enumerated  in  that  com- 
pact ;  and  that  in  case  of  a  de- 
liberate, palpable,  and  dangerous 
exercise  of  other  powers,  not 
granted  by  the  said  compact,  the 
States  who  are  parties  thereto, 
have  the  right,  and  are  in  duty 
bound,  to  interpose  for  arresting 
the  progress  of  the  evil,  and  for 
maintaining  within  their  respec- 
tive hmits,  the  authorities,  rights 
and  liberties  appertaining  to  them.* 

In  addition  to  the  above  reso- 
lution, the  General  Assembly  of 
Virginia  '  appeal  to  the  other 
States,  in  the  confidence  that 
they  would  concur  v. lib  that 
Commonwealth,  that  the  acts 
aforesaid  [the  alien  and  sedition 
laws]  are  unconstitutional,  and  that 
the  necessary  and  proper  mea- 
sures would  be  taken  by  each  for 
cooperating  with  Virginia  in  main- 
taining, unimpaired, the  aulhorlties, 
rights  and  liberties,  reserved  to 
the  States  respectively,  or  to  the 
People.' 

The  Legislatures  of  several  of 
the  New  England  Slates  having, 
contrary  to  the  expectation  of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia,  expressed 
their  dissent  from  these  doctrines ; 
the  subject  came  up  again  for 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


91 


consideration,  during  the  session 
of  1799,  1800,  when  it  was  re- 
ferred to  a  select  committee,  by 
whom  was  made  that  celebrated 
report,  which  is  familiarly  known 
as  *  JMadison's  Report,'  and  which 
deserves  to  last  as  long  as  the 
Constitution  itself.  In  that  re- 
port, which  was  subsequently 
adopted  by  the  Legislature,  the 
whole  subject  was  deliberately 
re-examined,  and  the  objections 
urged  against  the  Virginia  doc- 
trines carefully  considered.  The 
result  was,  that  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  re-affirmed  all  the 
principles  laid  down  in  the  reso- 
lutions of  1798,  and  issued  to 
the  world  that  admirable  report, 
which  has  stamped  the  character 
of  Mr  Madison  as  the  preserver 
of  that  Constitution  which  he 
had  contributed  so  largely  to 
create  and  establish. 

But  our  authorities  do  not  stop 
here.  The  State  of  Kentucky 
^  responded  to  Virginia,  and  on  the 
10th  of  November,  1798,  adopted 
these  celebrated  resolutions,  well 
known  to  have  been  penned  by 
the  Author  of  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence.  In 
those  resolutions  the  Legislature 
of  Kentucky  declares  *  That  the 
government  created  by  this  com- 
pact, was  not  made  the  exclusive 
or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the 
powers  delegated  to  itself,  since 
that  would  have  made  its  discre- 
tion, and  not  the  Constitution,  the 
measure  of  its  powers ;  but  that, 
as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact 
among  parties  having  no  common 
judge,  each  party  had  an  equal 
right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well 
of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and 
njeasure  of  redress.' 


At  the  ensuing  session  of  the 
Legislature,  the  subject  was  re- 
examined, and  on  the  14th  No- 
vember, 1799,  the  resolutions  of 
the  preceding  year,  were  deliber- 
ately reaffirmed,'and  it  was  among 
other  things  solemnly  declared  : 

'  That  if  those  who  administer 
the  General  Government  be  per- 
mitted to  transgress  the  limits 
fixed  by  that  compact,  by  a  total 
disregard  to  the  special  delega- 
tions of  power  therein  contained, 
an  annihilation  of  the  State  Gov- 
ernments, and  the  erection  upon 
their  ruins  of  a  general  consoli- 
dated government  will  be  the  in- 
evitable consequence.  The  prin- 
ciples of  construction  contended 
for  by  sundry  of  the  State  Legis- 
latures, that  the  General  Govern- 
ment is  the  exclusive  judge  of  the 
extent  of  the  powers  delegated 
to  it,  stop  nothing  short  of  des- 
potism ;  since  the  discretion  '  of 
those  who  administer  the  govern- 
ment, and  not  the  Constitution, 
would  be  the  measure  of  their 
powers.  That  the  several  States 
who  formed  that  instrument,  be- 
ing sovereign  and  independent, 
have  the  unquestionable  right  to 
judge  of  its  infraction,  and  that  a 
nullification  by  those  sovereignties, 
of  all  authorized  acts  done  under 
color  of  that  instrument,  is  the 
rightful  remedy.' 

Time  and  experience  confirm- 
ed Mr  Jefferson's  opinion  on  this 
all  important  point.  In  the  year 
18.21,  he  expressed  himself  in 
this  emphatic  manner.  '  It  is  a 
fatal  heresy  to  suppose  that  either 
our  State  Governments  are  su- 
perior to  the  Federal,  or  the 
Federal  to  the  States ;  neither  is 
authorized  literally  to  decide  which 


92 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829 —  SO. 


belongs  to  itself  or  its  copartner 
in  government :  in  differences  of 
opinion,  between  their  different 
sets  of  public  servants,  the  appeal 
is  to  neither,  but  to  their  employ- 
ers peaceably  assembled  by  their 
representatives  in  Convention.' 
The  opinion  of  Mr  Jefferson  on 
this  subject  has  been  so  repeatedly 
and  so  solemnly  expressed,  that 
they  may  be  said  to  have  been 
among  the  most  fixed  and  setded 
convictions  of  his  mind. 

In  the  protest  prepared  by  him 
for  the  Legislature  of  Virginia, 
in  December,  1825,  in  respect  to 
the  powers  exercised  by  the  Fe- 
deral Government  in  relation  to 
ihe  Tariff,  and  Internal  Improve- 
ments, which  he  declares  to  be 
*  usurpations  of  the  powers  retain- 
ed by  the  States,  mere  interpola- 
tions into  the  compact,  and  direct 
infractions  of  it,'  —  he  solemnly 
reasserts  all  the  principles  of  the 
Virginia  resolutions  of  '98  —  pro- 
tesis  against  '  these  acts  of  the 
Federal  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  null  and  void,  and  de- 
clares that  although  Virginia 
would  consider  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union  as  among  the  greatest 
calamities  that  could  befall  them, 
yet  it  is  not  the  greatest.  There 
is  one  yet  greater  —  submission 
to  a  Government  of  unlimited 
powers.  It  is  only  when  the  hope 
of  this  shall  become  so  absolutely 
desperate  that  further  forbearance 
could  not  be  indulged.' 

Such,  sir,  are  the  high  and 
imposing  authorities  in  sup- 
port of  '  the  Carolina  doctrine,' 
which  is  in  fact  the  doctrine 
of  the  Virginia  resolutions  of 
1798. 

At  that  day  the  whole  country 
was  divided  on  this  very  question. 


It  formed  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  federal  and  republi- 
can parties,  and  the  great  political 
revolution  which  then  took  place, 
turned  upon  the  very  question 
involved  in   these  resolutions. 
That  question  was  decided  by  the 
people,  and  by  that  decision  the 
Constitution  was,  in  the  emphatic 
language  of  Mr  Jefferson,  '  saved 
at  its  last  gasp.'    I  should  sup- 
pose it  would  require  more  self- 
respect  than  any  gentleman  here 
would  be  willing  to  assume,  to 
treat  lightly,   doctrines  derived 
from  such  high  sources.  Rest- 
ing on  authority  hke  this,  I  will 
ask  gendemen,  whether  South 
Carohna  has  not  manifested  a 
high  regard  for  the  Union,  when 
under  a  tyranny  ten  limes  more 
grievous  than  the  alien  and  sedi- 
tion laws,  she  has  hitherto  gone 
no  farther  than  to  petidon,  remon- 
sti'ate,  and  to  solemnly  protest 
against  a  series  of  measures  which 
she  believes  to  be  w4iolly  uncon- 
stitutional, and  utterly  destructive 
of  her  interests.    South  Carolina 
has  not  gone  one    step  farther 
than  Mr  Jefferson  himself  was 
disposed  to  go  in  relation  to  the 
present  subject    of  our  present 
complaints  —  not  a  step  farther 
than  the  statesmen  from  New 
England  were  disposed  to  go  un- 
der similar  circumstances  ;  no 
farther  than   the   senator  from 
Massachusetts  himself  once  con- 
sidered as  within  '  the  limits  of  a 
constitutional  opposition.'  The 
doctrine  that  it  is  the  right  of  a 
State  to  judge  of  the  violations 
of  the  Constitution  on  the  part  of 
the  Federal  Government,  and  to 
protect  her  citizens  from  the  op- 
erations of  unconstitutional  laws, 
was  held  by  tlie  enlightened  citi 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


98 


Kens  of  Boston,  who  assembled 
in  Faneuil  hall,  on  the  25th  of 
January,  in  1809.  They  state, 
in  that  celebrated  memorial,  that 
'  they  looked  only  to  the  State 
legislature,  who  were  competent 
to  devise  relief  against  the  uncon- 
stitutional acts  of  the  General 
Government.  That  your  power, 
(say  they)  is  adequate  to  that  ob- 
ject, is  evident  from  the  organi- 
zation of  the  confederacy.' 

A  distinguished  senator  from 
one  of  the  New  England  States, 
(Mr  Hillhouse,)  in  a  speech  de- 
livered here,  on  a  bill  for  enforc- 
ing the  embargo,  declared  — '  I 
feel  myself  bound  in  conscience 
to  declare,  (lest  the  blood  of  those 
who  shall  fall  in  the  execution  of 
this  measure  shall  be  on  my 
bead,)  that  I  consider  this  to  be 
an  act  which  directs  a  mortal  blow 
at  the  liberties  of  my  country  — , 
an  act  containing  unconstitutional 
provisions,  to  which  the  people  are 
not  bound  to  submit,  and  to  wiiich, 
in  my  opinion,  they  will  not  sub- 
mit.' 

And  the  senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts, himself,  in  a  speech  de- 
livered on  the  same  subject  in 
the  other  House,  said,  ' '  tliis  op- 
position is  constitutional  and  legal ; 
it  is  also  conscientious,  ft  rests 
on  setded  and  sober  conviction, 
that  such  policy  is  destructive  to 
the  interests  of  the  people,  and 
dangerous  to  the  being  of  Govern- 
ment. The  experience  of  every 
day  confirms  these  sentiments. 
Men  who  act  from  such  motives 
are  not  to  be  discouraged  by  tri-- 
fling  obstacles,  nor  awed  by  any 
dangers.  They  know  the  limit 
of  constitutional  opposition  ;  up 
10  that  limit,  at  their  own  discre^ 


tion,  they  will  walk,  and  waik 
fearlessly.'  How  '  the  being  of 
the  Government'  was  to  be  en- 
dangered by  '  constitutional  op- 
position' to  the  embargo,  1  leave 
to  die  gentleman  to  explain. 

Thus,  will  be  seen,  Mr  Presi- 
dent, that  the  South  Carolina 
doctrine  is  the  republican  doc- 
trine of  '98 ;  that  it  was  promul- 
gated by  the  fadiers  of  the  faith  — 
that  it  was  maintained  by  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  in  the  worst  of 
times  — =  that  it  constituted  the 
very  pivot  on  which  the  political 
revolution  of  that  day  turned  — 
that  it  embraces  the  very  princi- 
ples, the  triumph  of  vv^hich,  at 
that  time,  saved  the  Constitution 
at  its  last  gasp,  and  which  New 
England  statesmen  were  not  un- 
willing to  adopt,  when  they  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  the  vic- 
tims of  unconstitutional  legislation. 
As  to  die  doctrine  that  the  Fede- 
ral Government  is  the  exclusive 
judge  of  the  extent  as  well  as  the 
limitations  of  its  powers,  it  seems 
to  me  to  be  utterly  subversive  of 
the  sovereignty  and  independence 
of  the  States.  It  makes  but  little 
difference,  in  my  estimation, 
whether  Congress  or  the  Supreme 
Court  are  invested  with  this  pow-. 
er.  If  the  Federal  Government, 
in  all  or  any  of  its  departments, 
are  to  prescribe  the  limits  of  its 
own  authority,  and  the  States  are 
bound  to  submit  to  the  decision,  and 
are  not  to  be  allowed  to  examine 
and  decide  for  themselves,  when 
the  barriers  of  the  Constitution 
shall  be  overleaped,  this  is  practi- 
cally a  '  government  without  lim- 
itation of  powers.'  The  States 
are  at  once  reduced  to  mere  petty 
corporations,  and  the  people  are. 


94 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


entirely  at  your  mercy.  I  have 
but  one  word  more  to  add.  In 
all  the  efforts  that  have  been 
made  by  South  Carolina,  to 
resist  the  unconstitutional  laws 
which  Congress  has  extended 
over  them,  she  has  kept  steadily 
in  view  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  by  the  only  means  by 
which  she  believes  it  can  be  long 
preserved  —  a  firm,  manly,  and 
steady  resistance  against  usurpa- 
tion. The  measures  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  have,  it  is  true, 
prostrated  her  interests,  and  will 
soon  involve  the  whole  South  in 
irretrievable  ruin.  But  even  this 
evil,  great  as  it  is,  is  not  the  chief 
ground  of  our  complaints.  It  is 
the  principle  involved  in  the  con- 
test, a  principle,  which,  substitut- 
ing the  discretion  of  Congress  for 
the  limitations  of  the  Constitution, 
brings  the  States  and  the  peo- 
ple to  the  feet  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  leaves  them 
nothing  they  can  call  their  own. 
If  the  measures  of  the  Federal 
Government  were  less  oppressive, 
we  should  still  strive  against  this 
usurpation.  The  South  is  acting 
on  a  principle  she  has  always 
held  sacred  —  resistance  to  un- 
authorized taxation.  These  aie 
the  principles  which  induced  the 
immortal  Hampden  to  resist  the 
payment  of  a  tax  of  twenty  shil- 
lings. Would  twenty  shillings 
have  ruined  his  fortune  ?  No ! 
but  the  payment  of  half  twenty 
shillings,  on  the  principle  on  which 
it  was  demanded,  would  have 
made  him  a  slave.  If  in  acting 
on  these  high  motives  —  if  ani- 
mated by  that  ardent  love  of  lib- 
erty which  has  always  been  the 
most  prominent  trait  in  the  South- 
ern character  —  we  should  be 


hurried  beyond  the  bounds  of  a 
cold  and  calculating  prudence, 
who  is  there,  with  one  noble  and 
generous  sentiment  in  his  bosom, 
that  would  not  be  disposed,  in  the 
language  of  Burke,  to  exclaim, 
'  You  must  pardon  something  to 
the  spirit  of  liberty  ! ' 

This  speech,  addressed  as  it  was 
to  the  local  prejudices  of  the 
South  and  West,  and  obviously 
with  a  view  of  uniting  those  great 
sections  of  the  country,  in  a  cru- 
sade against  the  predominant  party 
in  the  Eastern  States,  called  up 
Mr  Webster  in  a  reply,  which  for 
power  and  effect,  never  was  sur- 
passed on  the  floor  of  Congress. 
From  the  pointed  and  marked 
character  of  the  attack,  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  speech  of  Mr 
Hayne  was  eulogized  throughout 
the  country,  by  the  friends  of  the 
administration,  it  was  evident  that 
they  believed  a  fatal  blow  had 
been  aimed  at  the  political  stand- 
ing of  the  Senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts. 

The  reply,  however,  was  yet 
to  come,  and  his  acknowledged 
ability  caused  some  apprehension 
as  to  the  resuh.  Public  attention 
was  strongly  excited,  and  the  Sen- 
ate Chamber  was  crowded  to 
overflowing,  in  expectation  of  the 
reply.  Following  Mr  Hayne  in 
debate,  Mr  Webster  commenced 
by  remarking  upon  the  manner  in 
which  they  had  wandered  from 
the  resolution  before  the  Senate, 
and  asked  the  Secretary  to  read 
the  resolution.  He  then  proceed- 
ed. 

We  have  thus  heard,  sir,  what 
the  resolution  is  which  is  actually 
before  us  for  consideration  ;  and  it 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


will  readily  occur  to  every  one 
that  it  is  almost  the  only  suhject 
about  which  something  has  not 
been  said  in  the  speecli,  running 
through  two  days,  by  which  the 
Senate  has  now  been  entertained 
by  the  gentleman  from  South  Car- 
olina. Every  topic  in  the  wide 
range  of  our  public  affairs,  whether 
pastor  present  —  everything,  gen- 
eral or  local,  whether  belonging  to 
national  politics  or  party  politics, 
seems  to  have  attracted  more  or 
less  of  the  honorable  member's 
attention,  save  only  the  resolution 
before  us. 

When  this  debate  was  to  be  re- 
sumed, on  Thursday  morning,  it 
so  happened  that  it  would  have 
been  convenient  for  me  to  be  else- 
where. The  honorable  member, 
however,  did  not  incline  to  put  off 
the  discussion  to  another  day.  He 
had  a  shot,  he  said,  to  return,  and 
he  wished  to  discharge  it.  That 
shot,  which  it  was  kind  thus  to  in- 
form us  was  coming,  that  we  might 
stand  out  of  the  way,  or  prepare 
ourselves  to  fall  before  it,  and  die 
with  decency,  has  now  been  re- 
ceived. Under  all  advantages, 
and  with  expectation  awakened  by 
the  tone  which  preceded  it,  it  has 
been  discharged,  and  has  spent  its 
force.  It  may  become  me  to  say 
no  more  of  its  effect,  than  that,  if 
nobody  is  found,  after  all,  either 
killed  or  wounded  by  it,  it  is  not 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  hu- 
man affairs  that  the  vigor  and  suc- 
cess of  the  vv^ar  have  not  quite 
come  up  to  the  lofty  and  sounding 
phrase  of  the  manifesto. 

But  the  gentleman  inquires 
why  he  was  made  the  object  of 
sucVa  reply  ?  Why  was  he  sin- 
g.led  out?  If  an  attack  had  been 


made  on  the  East,  he,  he  assures 
us,  did  not  begin  it  —  it  was 
the  gentleman  from  Missouri.  I 
answered  the  gentleman's  speech 
because  I  happened  to  hear  it ; 
and  because,  also,  I  chose  to  give 
an  answer  to  that  speech,  which 
if  unanswered,  I  thought  most 
likely  to  produce  injurious  impres- 
sions. 1  did  not  stop  to  inquire 
who  was  the  original  drawer  of 
the  bill.  I  found  a  responsible 
indorser  before  me,  and  it  was 
my  purpose  to  hold  him  liable, 
and  to  bring  him  to  his  just  re- 
sponsibility without  delay.  But 
this  interrogatory  of  the  honorable 
member  was  only  introductory  to 
another.  He  proceeded  to  ask 
me,  whether  I  had  turned  upon 
him,  in  this  debate,  from  the  con- 
sciousness that  1  should  find  an 
overmatch,  if  I  ventured  on  a 
contest  with  his  friend  from  Mis- 
souri. If  the  honorable  member, 
ex  gratia  modestice^  had  chosen 
thus  to  defer  to  his  friend,  and  to 
pay  him  a  compliment  without 
intentional  disparagement  to  oth- 
ers, it  would  have  been  quite  ac- 
cording to  the  friendly  courtesies 
of  debate,  and  not  at  all  ungrate- 
ful to  my  own  feelings.  \  am 
not  one  of  those  who  esteem  any 
tribute  of  regard,  whether  light 
and  occasional,  or  more  serious 
and  deliberate,  which  may  be  be- 
stowed on  others,  as  so  much 
unjustly  withholden  from  them- 
selves. But  the  tone  and  manner 
of  the  gentleman's  question,  for- 
bid me  that  I  thus  interpret  it.  I 
am  not  at  liberty  to  consider  it  as 
nothing  more  than  a  civility  to  his 
friend.  It  had  an  air  of  taunt 
and  disparagement,  a  little  of  the 
loftiness  of  asserted  superiority, 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


which  does  not  allow  me  lo  pass 
it  over  without  notice.  It  was 
put  as  a  question  for  irie  to  an* 
swer,  and  so  put,  as  if  it  were 
difficult  for  meto  answer,  wheth- 
er I  deemed  the  member  from 
Missouri  an  overmatch  for  myself 
in  debate  here.  It  seems,  to  me, 
that  this  is  extraordinary  language, 
and  an  extraordinary  tone,  for  the 
discussions  of  this  body. 

Matches  and  over- matches  ! 
Those  terms  are  more  applicable 
elsewhere  than  here,  and  fitter 
for  other  assemblies  than  this. 
The  gentleman  seems  to  forget 
where  and  what  we  are.  This  is 
a  Senate;  a  senate  of  equals:  of 
men  of  individual  honor  and  per- 
sonal character,  and  of  absolute 
independence.  We  know  no  mas- 
ters :  we  acknowledge  no  dicta- 
tors. This  is  a  hall  for  mutual 
consultation  and  discussion ;  not 
an  arena  for  the  exhibition  of 
champions.  I  offer  myself,  as  a 
match  for  no  man  ;  I  throw  the 
challenge  of  debate  at  no  man's 
feet.  But  then,  since  the  jion- 
orable  member  has  put  the  ques- 
tion, in  a  manner  that  calls  for  an 
answer,  I  will  give  him  an  answer  ; 
and  I  tell  him,  that,  holding  my- 
self to  be  the  humblest  of  the 
members  here,  I  yet  know  nothing 
in  the  arm  of  his  friend  from 
Missouri,  either  alone,  or  when 
aided  by  the  arm  of  his  hiend 
from  South  Carolina,  that  need 
deter,  even  me,  from  espousing 
whatever  opinions  I  may  choose 
to  espouse,  from  debating  when- 
ever 1  may  choose  to  debate,  or 
from  speaking  whatever  I  may  see 
fit  to  say  on  the  floor  of  the  Sen- 
ate. When  uttered  as  matter 
af  commendation  or  compliment, 


I   should  dissent  from  nothing 
which   the  honorable  member 
might  say  of  his  friend.  Still 
less  do!  put  forth  any  pretensions 
of  my  own.    But  when  put  to 
me  as  matter  of  taunt,  I  throw  it 
back,  and  say  lo  the  gentleman 
that  he  could  possibly  say  nothing 
less  likely  than  such  a  comparison, 
to  wound  my  pride  of  personal 
character.     The   anger  of  the 
tone  rescued  ttie  remark  from 
intentional  irony,  which  otherwise, 
probably,  would  have  been  its  ge- 
neral acceptation.    But,  if  it  be 
imagined  that  by  this  mutual  quo- 
tation and  commendation  ;  if  it  be 
supposed  that,  by   casting  the 
characters  of  the  drama,  assigning 
to  each  his  part :  to  one  the  at- 
tack ;  to  another  the  cry  of  onset ; 
or,  if  it  be  thought  that  by  a  loud 
and  empty  vaunt  of  anticipated 
victory,  any  laurels  are  to  be  won 
here  ;  if  it  be  imagined,  especial- 
ly, that  any,  or  all  these  things, 
will   shake  any  purpose  of  mine, 
I  can  tell  the  honorable  member 
once  for  all,  that  he  is  greatly- 
mistaken,  and  that  he  is  dealing 
with  one  of  whose  temper  and 
character  he  has  yet  much  to 
learn.    I  shall  not  allow  myself, 
on  this  occasion,  ]  hope  on  no  oc- 
casion, to  be  betrayed  into  any 
loss  of  temper,  but,  if  provoked, 
and  I  trust  I  never  shall  allow 
myself  to  be,  into  crimination  and 
recrimination,the  honorable  mem- 
ber may,  perhaps,  find,  that,  in 
that  contest,  there  will  be  blows 
to  lake  as  well  as  blows  to  give  ; 
that  others  can  state  comparisons 
as  significant,  at  least,  as  his  own, 
and  that  his  impunity  may  per- 
haps, demand  of  him  whatever 
powers  of  taunt  and  sarcasm  he 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


07 


may  p.ossess.  1  commencl  him  to 
a  prudent  husbandry  of  his  re- 
sources. 

Jn  the  course  of  my  observa- 
tions the  other  day,  Mr  President. 
I  paid  a  passing  tribute  of  respect 
to  a  very  worthy  man,  Mr  Dane, 
of  Massachusetts.  It  so  happened 
tiiat  he  drew  the  ordinance  of 
1787,  for  the  government  of  the 
Northwestern  Territory. 

I  spoke,  of  the  ordinance  of 
1782,  which  prohibited  slavery, 
in  all  future  times,  northwest  of 
the  Ohio,  as  a  measure  of  great 
vv^isdom  and  foresight;  and  one 
which  had  been  attended  with 
highly  beneficial  and  permanent 
consequences.  I  supposed,  that 
on  this  point,  no  two  gentlemen  in 
the  Senate  could  entertain  differ- 
ent opinions.  But  the  simple  ex- 
pression of  this  sentiment  has  led 
the  gentleman,  not  only  into  a 
labored  defence  of  slavery,  in  the 
abstract,  and  on  principle,  but, 
also,  into  a  warm  accusation 
against  me,  as  having  attacked  the 
system  of  domestic  slavery,  now 
existing  in  the  Southern  States. 
For  all  this  there  was  not  the 
slightest  foundation,  in  anything 
said  or  intimated  by  me.  I  did 
uol  utter  a  single  word,  which  any 
ingenuity  could  torture  into  an 
attack  on  the  slavery  of  the  South. 
I  said  only  that  it  was  highly  wise 
and  useful  in  legislating^  for  the 
northwestern  country,  while  it  was 
yet  a  wilderness,  to  prohibit  the 
introduction  of  slaves  ;  and  added, 
that  I  presumed,  in  the  neighbor- 
ing state  of  Kentucky,  there  was 
no  reflecting  and  intelligent  gen- 
tleman, who  would  doubt,*' that  if 
the  same  prohibition  had  been 
extended,  at  the  same  early  pe  icd, 
9* 


over    that  commonwealth,  her 
strength  and  population  would,  at 
this  day,  have  been  far  greater 
than  they  are.    If  these  opinions 
be  thought   doubtful,  they  are, 
nevertheless,  I  trust,  neither  ex- 
traordinary   *  or  disrespectful. 
They  attack  nobody,  and  menace 
nobody.    And  yet,   the  gentle- 
man's optics    have  discovered, 
even  in  the  mere  expression  of 
this  sentiment,  what  he  calls  the 
very  spirit  of  the  Missouri  ques- 
tion !    He  represents  me  as  mak- 
ing an  onset  on  the  whole  South, 
and  manifesting  a  spirit  which 
would  interfere  with,  and  disturb 
their  domestic  condition !  This 
injustice  no  otherwise  surprises 
me,  than  as  it  is  done  here,  and 
done  without  the  slightest  pretence 
of  ground  for  it.    I  say  it  only 
surprises  me,  as  being  done  here  ; 
for  I  know,  full  well,  that  it  is, 
and  has  been  the  settled  policy  of 
some  persons  in  the  South,  for 
years,  to  represent  the  people  of 
the  North  as  disposed  to  interfere 
with  them,  in  their  own  exclusive 
and  peculiar  concerns.    This  is  a 
delicate  and    sensitive  point  in 
southern    feeling;   and  of  late 
years  it  has  always  been  touched, 
and  generally  with  effect,  when- 
ever the  object  has  been  to  unite 
the  whole  South  against  northern 
men  or  northern  measures.  But 
the  feeling  is  without  adequate 
cause,  and  the  suspicion  which 
exists,  wholly  groundless.  There 
is  not,  and  never  has  been,  a  dis- 
position in  the  North  to  interfere 
with  these  interests  of  the  South. 
Such  interference  has  never  been 
supposed  to  be  within  the  power  of 
Government ;  nor  hes  it  been  in 
any  way  attempted.    It  has  al- 


98 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829— 


ways  been  regarded  as  a  matter 
of  domestic  policy,  left  with  the 
States  themselves,  and  with  which 
the  Federal    Government  had 
nothing  to  do.    Certainly,  I  am, 
and  ever  have  been,  of  that  opin- 
ion.    The   gentleman,  indeed, 
argues  that  slavery,  in  the  abstract, 
is  no  evil.    Most  assuredly,  1  need 
not  say  I  differ  with  bim,  altogeth- 
er and  most  widely,  on  that  point. 
J  regard  do-mestic  slavery  as  one 
of   the  greatest  of  evils,  both 
moral  and  political.    But  though 
it  be  a  malady,  and  whether  it  be 
curable,  and  if  so,  by  what  means ; 
or,  on  tbe  other  hand,  whether  it 
be  tile  vulniis  vnmedicnhile  of  the 
social  system,  I  leave  it  to  those 
whose  right  and  duty  it  is  to  in- 
quire and  to  decide.    The  do- 
mestic slavery  of  the  South,  I 
leave  where  I  find  it  —  in  the 
hands  of  their  own  Governments. 
It  is  their  affair,  not  mine.  Nor 
do  I  complain  of  the  peculiar 
effect  which  the  magnitude  of  that 
])opulation  has  had  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  power  under  this  Federal 
Government.    We  know,  that  tlie 
l  epresentation  of  the  States  in  the 
other  house  is  not  equal.  We 
know  that  great  advantage,  in  that 
respect,  is  enjoyed  by  the  slave 
holding  States ;  and  we  know,  too, 
that  the  intended  equivalent  for 
that  advantage,  that  is  to  say,  the 
imposition  of  direct  t^xes  in  the 
same  ratio,  has  become  merely 
nominal :  the  habit  of  the  Gov- 
ei-nment  being  almost  invariably 
to  collect  its  revenues  from  other 
sources,    and  in    other  modes. 
Nevertheless,  I  do  not  complain  : 
nor  would   I  countenance  any 
movement  to  alter  this  arrange- 
ment of  representation.    It  is  the 


original  bargain,  tbe  compact- — 
let  it  stand  :  let  tbe  advantage  of 
it  be  fully  enjoyed.  The  Union 
itself  is  too  full  of  benefit  to  be 
hazarded  in  propositions  for  chang- 
ing its  original  })asis.  I  go  for 
the  Constitution  as  it  is,  and  for 
the  Union  as  it  is.  But  I  am  re- 
solved not  to  submit,  in  silence, 
to  accusations,  either  against  my- 
self individually,  or  against  the 
North,  wholly  unfounded  and  un- 
just ;  accusations  which  impute  to 
us  a  disposition  to  evade  the  con- 
stitutional compact  and  to  extend 
the  power  of  the  Government  over 
the  internal  laws  and  domestic 
condition  of  the  States.  All  such 
accusations,  wlierever  and  when- 
ever made,  all  insinuations  of  the 
existence  of  any  such  purposes,  I 
know  and  feel  to  be  groundless 
and  injurious. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to 
transfer,  from  the  North  to  the 
South,  the  honor  of  this  exclusion 
of  slavery  from  the  Northwestern 
Territory.  The  journal,  without 
argument  or  comment,  refutes 
such  attempt.  The  cession  by 
Virginia  was  made,  March,  1784. 
On  the  19th  of  April  following,  a 
committee,  consisting  of  Messrs 
Jefferson,  Chase,  and  Howell  re- 
ported a  plan  for  a  temporary 
government  of  the  territory,  in 
which  was  this  article  ;  '  that,  after 
theyear  1800,  there  shall  be  neith- 
er slavery,  nor  involuntary  servi- 
tude in  any  of  the  said  States, 
otherwise  than  in  punishment  of 
crimes,  whereof  tbe  party  shall 
liavebeen  convicted.'  Mr  Speight, 
of  North  Carolina,  moved  to 
strike  out  this  paragraph.  Tlie 
question  was  put,  according  to  the 
form  then  practised  :  '  Shall  these 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


9^ 


words  stand,  as  part  of  the  plan  ? ' 
&ic.  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania — seven  states,  vot- 
ed in  the  affirmative.  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  in 
the  negative.  North  Carolina 
was  divided.  As  the  consent  of 
nine  States  was  necessary,  the 
words  could  not  stand,  and  were 
struck  out  accordingly.  —  Mr 
Jefferson  voted  for  the  clause,  but 
was  overruled  by  his  colleagues. 

In  March  of  the  next  year, 
[1785,]  Mr  King,  of  Massachu- 
setts, seconded  by  Mr  Ellery,  of 
Rhode  Island,  proposed  the  form- 
erly rejected  article,  with  this  ad- 
dition :  '  And  that  this  regulation 
shall  he  an  article  of  compact^ 
and  remain  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  the  constitutions  between 
the  thp'teen  original  States  and 
each  of  the  States  described  in  the 
resolve,^  fyc.  On  this  clause, 
which  provided  the  adequateand 
thorough  security,  the  eight  North- 
ern States  at  that  time  voted  af- 
fimatively,  and  the  four  Southern 
States  negatively.  The  votes  of 
nine  States  were  not  yet  obtained, 
and  thus  the  provision  was  again 
rejected  by  the  Southern  States. 
The  perseverance  of  the  North 
lield  out,  and  two  years  afterwards 
the  object  was  attained.  It  is  no 
derogation  from  the  credit,  what- 
ever that  maybe,  of  drawing  the 
ordinance,  that  its  principles  liad 
before  been  prepared  and  discuss- 
ed, in  the  form  of  a  resolution. 

But  the  honorable  member  had 
now  found  out  that  this  gentleman, 
Mr  Dane,  was  a  member  of  the 
Hartford  Convention.  However 
uniformed  the  honorable  mem- 


ber may  be  of  characters  and  oc- 
currences at  the  North,  it  would 
seem  that  he  has  at  his  elbow  on 
this  occasion  some  high-minded 
and  lofty  spirit,  some  magnani- 
mous and  true-hearted  monitor 
possessing  the  means  of  local 
laiowledge,  and  ready  to  supply 
the  honorable  member  with  every- 
thing, down  even  to  forgotten  and 
moth-eaten  two-penny  pamphlets, 
which  may  be  used  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  his  own  country.  But 
as  to  the  Hartford  Convention, 
allow  me  to  say,  that  the  proceed-, 
ings  of  that  body  seem  now  to  be 
less  read  and  studied  in  New 
England,  than  further  South.  — 
They  appear  to  be  looked  to,  not 
in  New  England,  but  elsewhere, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  how  far 
they  may  serve  as  a  precedent. 
But  they  will  not  answer  the  pur- 
pose—  they  are  quite  too  tameo 
The  latitude  in  which  they  origin- 
ated was  too  cold.  Other  con- 
ventions, of  more  recent  existence, 
have  gone  a  whole  bar's  length 
beyond  it.  The  learned  doctors 
of  Colleton  and  Abbeville  have 
pushed  their  commentaries  on  the 
Hartford  Collect  so  far  that  the 
original  text-writers  are  thrown 
entirely  into  the  shade.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Hartford 
Convention.  Its  journal,  whicli 
the  gentleman  has  quoted,  I  never 
read.  So  far  as  the  honorable 
member  may  discover  in  its  pro- 
ceedings a  spirit  in  any  degree 
resembling  that  which  was  avow- 
ed and  justified  in  those  other 
conventions  to  which  I  have  al- 
luded, or  so  far  as  those  proceed- 
ings can  be  shown  to  be  disloyal 
to  the  Constitution,  or  tending  to 
disunion,  so  far  I  shall  be  as  ready 


100 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


as  any  one  to  bestow  on  them 
reprehension  and  censure. 

J  need  not  repeat  at  large,  the 
general  topics  of  the  honorable 
gentleman's  speech.    When  he 
said,  yesterday,  that  he  did  not 
attack  the    Eastern  States,  he 
certainly  must  have  forgotten,  not 
only  particular  remarks,  but  the 
whole    drift    and  tenor  of  his 
speech  ;  unless  he  means,  by  not 
attacking,  that  he  did  not  com- 
mence hostilities — but  that  an- 
other had  preceded  him  at  the  at- 
tack.   He,  in  the  first  place,  dis- 
approved of  the  whole  course 
of  the  Government,  for  forty  years, 
in  regard  to  its  dispositions  of  the 
public  land  ;  and  then,  turning 
northward    and   eastward,  and 
fancying  he  had  found  a  cause 
for  alleged  narrowness  and  nig- 
gardliness in  the'  accursed  policy' 
of  the  tariff,  to  which  he  repre- 
sented the  people  of  New  Eng- 
land as  wedded,  he  went  on,  for 
a  full  hour,  with  remarks,  the 
whole  scope  of  which  was  to  ex- 
hibit the  resuhs  of  this  policy,  in 
feelings  and  in  measures  unfavora- 
ble to  the  West.    I  thought  his 
opinions  unfounded  and  errone- 
ous, as  to  the  general  course  of 
the  Government,  and  ventured  to 
reply  to  them. 

The  gentleman  had  remarked 
on  the  analogy  of  other  cases, 
and  quoted  the  conduct  of  Eu- 
ropean Governments,  towards 
their  own  subjects,  settling  on  this 
continent,  as  in  point,  to  show 
that  we  have  been  harsh  and 
rigid  in  selling,  when  we  should 
have  given  the  public  lands  to 
setders.  I  thought  the  honorable 
member  had  suffered  his  judg- 
ment to  be  betrayed  by  a  false 


analogy ;  that  he  was  struck  with 
an  appearance  of  resemblance, 
where  there  was  no  real  similitude. 

But  this  is  not  the  point  of  the 
debate.  The  real  question  be- 
tween me  and  him  is,  where  has 
the  doctrine  been  advanced,  at 
the  South  or  at  the  East,  that  the 
population  of  the  West  should  be 
retarded,  or  at  least,  need  not  to 
be  hastened,  on  account  of  its 
effect  to  drain  off  the  people  from 
the  Atlantic  States  ^  Is  this  doc- 
trine, as  has  been  alleged,  of 
Eastern  origin  }  Has  the  gentle- 
man found  anything  by  which  he 
can  make  good  his  accusation  ? 
I  submit  to  the  Senate,  that  he 
has  entirely  failed  ;  and  as  far  as 
this  debate  has  shown,  the  only 
person  who  has  advanced  such 
sentiments,  is  a  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  and  a  friend  to 
the  honorable  member  himself. 

New  England  is  guiltless  of  the 
policy  of  retarding  western  pop- 
ulation, and  of  all  envy  and  jeal- 
ousy of  the  growth  of  the  new 
States.  Whatever  there  may  be 
of  that  policy  in  the  country,  no 
part  of  it  is  hers. 

We  approach,  at  length  to  a 
more  important  part  of  the  hon- 
orable gentleman's  observations. 
Since  it  does  not  accord  with  my 
views  of  justice  and  policy  to  give 
away  the  public  lands  altogether, 
as  mere  matter  of  gratuity,  I  am 
asked  by  the  honorable  gendeman 
on  what  ground  it  is,  that  I  con- 
sent to  vote  them  away  in  particu- 
lar instances  ?  How,  he  inquires, 
do  I  reconcile  with  these  profess- 
ed sentiments,  my  support  of 
measures  appropriating  portions 
of  the  lands  to  particular  roads 
particular  canals,  particular  rivers, 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


101 


and  particular  institutions  of  edu- 
cation in  the  West?  This  leads 
to  tlie  real  and  wide  difference  in 
political  opinions  between  the  hon- 
orable gentleman  and  myself. 
On  my  part,  I  look  upon  all  these 
objects  as  connected  with  the 
common  good,  fairly  embraced 
in  its  objects  and  its  terms ;  he,  on 
the  contrary,  deems  them  all,  if 
good  at  all,  only  local  good.  The 
interrogatory,  which  he  proceeded 
to  put,  at  once  explains  this  differ- 
ence. '  What  interest,'  asks  he, 
'  has  South  Carolina  in  a  canal  in 
Ohio  ? '  This  very  question  de- 
velopes  the  gentleman's  whole 
political  system  ;  and  its  answer 
expounds  mine.  I  look  upon  a 
road  over  the  Alleghany,  a  canal 
round  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  or 
a  canal  or  railway  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  western  waters,  as 
being  objects  large  and  extensive 
enough  to  be  fairly  sftid  to  be  for 
the  common  benefit.  The  gen- 
tleman thinks  otherwise,  and  this 
is  the  key  to  open  his  construction 
of  the  powers  of  the  Government. 
On  that  system,  Ohio  and  Caro- 
lina are  different  Governments, 
and  different  countries,  connected 
here,  it  is  true,  by  some  slight 
and  ill-defined  bond  of  union, 
but  in  all  main  respects,  separate 
and  diverse.  On  that  system, 
Carolina  has  no  more  interest  in 
a  canal  in  Ohio,  than  in  jMexico. 
The  gentleman,  therefore,  only 
follows  out  his  own  principles  ;  he 
does  no  more  than  arrive  at  the 
natural  conclusions  of  his  own 
doctrines  ;  he  only  announces  the 
true  results  of  that  creed  which 
he  has  adopted  himself,  and  would 
persuade  others  to  adopt,  when 
he  thus  declares  that  South  Car- 
olina lias  no  interest  in  a  public 


work  in  Ohio.  We  narrow  mind- 
ed people  of  New  England  do 
not  reason  thus.  Our  notion 
of  things  is  entirely  different. 
We  look  upon  the  States,  not  as 
separated,  but  as  united.  We 
love  to  dwell  on  that  Union,  and 
on  the  mutual  happiness  which  it 
has  so  much  promoted,  and  the 
common  renown  which  it  has  so 
greatly  contributed  to  acquire. 
In  our  contemplation,  Carohna 
and  Ohio  are  parts  of  the  same 
country  ;  States,  united  under  the 
same  General  Government,  hav- 
ing interests  common,  associated, 
intermingled.  In  whatever  is 
within  the  proper  sphere  of  the 
constitutional  power  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, we  look  upon  the  States 
as  one.  We  do  not  impose  geo- 
graphical limits,  to  our  patriotic 
feeling  or  regard  ;  we  do  not  fol- 
low rivers  and  mountains,  and 
lines  of  latitude,  to  find  boun- 
daries beyond  which  public  im- 
provements do  not  benefit  us. 
We  who  come  here  as  agents  and 
representatives  of  those  narrow 
minded  and  selfish  men  of  New 
England,  consider  ourselves  as 
bound  to  regard,  with  equal  eye, 
the  good  of  the  whole,  in  what- 
ever is  within  our  power  of  legis- 
lation. If  a  rail  road  or  a  canal, 
beginning  in  South  Carolina,  and 
ending  in  South  Carolina,  appear- 
ed to  me  to  be  of  national  impor- 
tance and  national  magnitude, 
(believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  power 
of  Government  extends  to  the 
encouragement  of  works  of  that 
description,)  if  1  were  to  stand  up 
here,  and  ask,  what  interest  has 
Massachusetts  in  a  rail  road  in 
South  Carolina,  I  should  not  be 
willing  to  face  my  constituents. 
These  same  narrow  minded  men 


102 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


would  tell  me,  that  they  had  sent 
me  lo  act  for  the  wiiole  C(iuntry, 
and  that  one  who  possessed  too 
little  comprehension,  either  of 
intellect  or  feeling,  one  who  was 
not  large  enough,  in  mind  and 
heart,  to  embrace  the  whole,  was 
not  fit  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
interest  of  any  part.  1  do  not 
desire  to  enlarge  the  powers  of 
the  Government,  by  unjustifiable 
construction ;  nor  to  exercise  any 
not  within  a  fair  interpretation. 
But  when  it  is  believed  that  a 
power  does  exist,  then  it  is,  in  my 
judgment,  to  be  exercised  for  the 
general  benefit  of  the  whole;  so 
far  as  respects  the  exercise  of 
such  a  power,  the  States  are  one. 
It  was  the  very  object  of  the  Con- 
stitution to  create  unity  of  interests 
to  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  the 
General  Government.  In  war 
and  peace,  we  are  one ;  in  com- 
merce one ;  because  the  authority 
of  the  General  Government  reach- 
es to  war  and  peace,  and  to  the 
regulation  of  commerce.  1  have 
never  seen  any  more  difficulty  in 
erecting  light-houses  on  the  lakes, 
than  on  the  ocean  ;  in  improving 
the  harbors  of  inland  seas,  than 
if  they  were  within  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  the  tide ;  or  of  removing 
obstructions  in  the  vast  streams  of 
the  West,  more  than  in  any  work 
to  facilitate  commerce  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  If  there  be  power 
for  one,  there  is  power  also  for 
the  other;  and  they  are  all  and 
equally  for  the  country. 

There  are  other  objects  appa- 
rently more  local,  or  the  benefit 
of  which  is  less  general,  towards 
which,  nevertheless,  I  have  con- 
curred with  others  to  give  aid,  by 
donations  of  land.    It  is  proiX)sed 


to  construct  a  road  in  or  through 
one  of  the  new  States  in  which 
this  Government  possesses  large 
quantities  of  land.  Have  the 
United  States  no  right,  as  a  great 
and  untaxed  proprietor;  are  they 
under  no  obligation  to  contribute 
to  an  object  thus  calculated  to 
])romote  the  common  good  of  all 
the  proprietors,  themselves  in- 
cluded ?  And  even  with  respect 
to  education,  which  is  the  extreme 
case,  let  the  question  be  consider- 
ed. In  the  first  place,  as  we  have 
seen,  it  was  made  matter  of  com- 
pact with  these  States,  that  they 
should  do  their  part  to  promote 
education.  In  the  next  place, 
our  whole  system  of  land  laws 
proceeds  on  the  idea  that  educa- 
tion is  for  the  common  good  ;  be- 
cause, in  every  division,  a  certain 
portion  is  uniformly  reserved  and 
appropriated  for  the  use  of  schools. 
And,  finally,  have  not  these  new 
States  singularly  strong  claims, 
founded  on  the  ground  already 
stated,  that  the  Government  is  a 
great  untaxed  proprietor  in  the 
ownership  of  the  soil.  It  is  a 
consideration  of  great  importance, 
that  probably  there  is  in  no  part 
of  the  country  or  of  the  world, 
so  great  a  call  for  the  means  of 
education  as  in  those  new  States  ; 
owing  to  the  vast  number  of  per- 
sons within  those  ages,  in  which 
education  and  instruction  are 
usually  received,  if  received  at 
all.  This  is  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  recency  of  settlement 
and  rapid  increase.  The  census 
of  these  States  show  how  great 
a  proportion  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion occupies  the  classes  between 
infancy  and  manhood.  These 
are  the  wide  fields,  and  here  is 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


103 


the  deep  and  quick  soil  for  the 
seeds  of  knowledge  and  virtue ; 
and  this  is  the  favored  season,  the 
spring  time  for  sowing  them. 
Whatever  the  Government  can 
fairly  do  towards  these  ohjects, 
in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  done. 

These,  are  the  grounds,  suc- 
cinctly stated,  on  which  my  votes 
for  grants  of  lands  for  parucular 
objects  rest ;  while  I  maintain  at 
the  same  time,  that  it  is  all  a  com- 
mon fund,  for  the  common  bene- 
fit. Those  who  have  a  different 
view  of  the  powers  of  the  Govern- 
ment, of  course,  come  to  different 
conclusions,  on  these,  as  on  other 
questions.  I  observed,  when 
speaking  on  this  subject  before,  that 
if  we  looked  to  any  measure,  —  a 
road,  a  canal,  or  anything  else, 
intended  for  the  improvement  of 
the  West —  it  would  be  found  that 
if  the  New  England  ayes  were 
struck  out  of  the  list  of  votes,  the 
southern  noes  would  always  have 
rejected  the  measure.  The  truth 
of  this  has  not  been  denied  and 
cannot  be  denied.  In  stating  this 
I  thought  it  just  to  ascribe  it  to 
the  constitutional  scruples  of  the 
South,  rather  than  to  any  other 
less  favorable  or  less  charitable 
cause.  But  no  sooner  had  I 
done  this,  than  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman asks,  if  I  reproach  him 
and  his  friends  with  their  constitu- 
tional scruples  ?  Sir,  I  reproach 
nobody.  I  stated  a  fact,  and  gave 
the  most  respectful  reason  for  it 
that  occurred  to  me. 

But  how  has  the  gentleman  re- 
turned this  respect  for  others' 
opinions  ?  His  own  candor  and 
justice,  how  have  they  been  ex- 
hibited towards  the  motives  of 
others  while  he  has  been  at  so 


much  pains  to  maintain,  what  no- 
body has  disputed,  the  purity  of 
his  own  ?  Why,  sir,  he  has  asked 
when,  and  hoxo,  and  why,  New 
England  voles  were  found  going 
for  measures  favorable  to  the 
West ;  he  has  demanded  to  be 
informed  whether  all  this  did  not 
begin  in  1825,  and  while  the 
election  of  President  was  still 
pending?  To  these  questions 
retort  would  be  justified ;  and  it 
is  both  cogent,  and  at  hand. 
Nevertheless,  I  will  answer  the 
inquiry  not  by  retort,  but  by  facts. 
I  will  tell  the  gentleman  luhen,  and 
hoiv,  and  ivhy,  New  England  has 
supported  measures  favorable  to 
the  West.  I  have  already  refer- 
red to  the  early  history  of  the 
Government  —  to  the  first  acqui- 
sition of  the  lands  —  to  the  orig- 
inal laws  for  disposing  of  them 
and  for  governing  the  territories 
where  they  lie  ;  and  have  shown 
the  influence  of  New  England 
men  and  New  England  principles 
in  all  these  leading  measures. 
Coming  to  more  recent  times  and 
to  measures  of  a  less  general 
character,  I  have  endeavored  to 
prove  that  everything  of  this  kind 
designed  for  western  improve- 
ment, has  depended  on  the  votes 
of  New  England  ;  all  this  is  true 
beyond  the  power  of  contradic- 
tion. 

In  1 820,  (observe,  Mr  Presi- 
dent,) in  1820,  the  people  of  the 
West  besought  Congress  for  a  re- 
duction in  the  price  of  lands. 
In  favor  of  that  reduction,  New- 
England  with  a  delegation  of 
forty  members  in  the  other  house, 
gave  thirtythree  votes,  and  one 
only  against  it.  The  four  South- 
ern States,  with  fifty  members, 


104  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


gave  thirty  two  votes  for  it,  and 
seven  against  it.  Again,  in  1821 
(observe  again,  sir,  the  lime,)  the 
law  passed  for  the  relief  of  the 
purchasers  of  the  public  lands. 
This  was  a  measure  of  vital  im- 
portance to  the  West,  and  more 
especially  to  the  Southwest.  It 
authorized  the  relinquishment  of 
contracts  for  lands,  which  had 
been  entered  into  at  high  prices, 
and  a  reduction  in  other  cases,  of 
not  less  than  37  1-2  per  cent  on 
the  purchase  money.  Many  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  six  or  seven,  I 
believe,  at  least,  probably  much 
more,  were  relinquished  by  this 
law.  On  this  bill  New  England, 
with  her  forty  members,  gave 
more  affirmative  votes  than  the 
four  Southern  States,  with  their 
fifty  two  or  three  members.  These 
two  are  far  the  most  important 
measures,  respecting  the  public 
lands,  which  have  been  adopted 
within  the  last  twenty  years. 
They  took  place  in  1820  and  '21. 
That  is  the  time  when.  And  as 
to  the  manner  how,  the  gentleman 
already  sees  that  it  was  by  voting, 
in  solid  column,  for  the  required 
relief;  and  lastly,  as  to  the  cause 
why,  I  tell  the  gentleman,  it  was 
because  the  members  from  New 
England  thought  the  measures 
just  and  salutary ;  because  they 
entertained  towards  the  West 
neither  envy,  hatred,  nor  malice  ; 
because  they  deemed  it  becoming 
them,  as  just  and  enlightened  pub- 
lic men,  to  meet  the  exigency 
which  had  arisen  in  the  West, 
with  the  appropriate  measure  of 
relief ;  because  they  felt  it  due  to 
iheir  own  characters,  and  the 
characters  of  their  New  England 
predecessors  in  this  Government, 


to  act  towards  the  new  States  in 
the  spiiit  of  a  liberal,  patronizing, 
magnanimous  policy. 

Having  recurred  to  these  two 
important  measures,  in  answer  to 
the  gendeman's  inquiries,  1  must 
now  beg  permission  to  go  back  to 
a  period  still  something  earlier, 
for  the  purpose  still  farther  of 
showing  how  much,  or  rather, 
how  little  reason  there  is  for  the 
gentleman's  insinuation  that  polit- 
ical hopes,  or  fears,  or  party  asso- 
ciations, were  the  grounds  of 
these  Nev/  England  votes. 

This  government,  Mr  President, 
from  its  origin  to  the  peace  of 
1815,  had  been  too  much  engross- 
ed with  various  other  important 
concerns,  to  be  able  to  turn  its 
thoughts  inward,  and  look  to  the 
development  of  its  vast  internal 
resources.  In  the  early  part  of 
President  Washington's  adminis- 
tration, it  was  fully  occupied  with 
organizing  the  government,  pro- 
viding for  the  public  debt,  defend- 
ing the  frontiers,  and  maintaining 
domestic  peace.  Before  the  ter- 
mination of  that  administration,  the 
fires  of  the  French  Revolution 
blazed  forth,  as  from  a  new  opened 
volcano,  and  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  ocean  did  not  entirely  se- 
cure us  from  its  effects.  The 
smoke  and  the  cinders  reached  us, 
though  not  the  burning  lava. 
Difficult  and  aghating  questions, 
embarrassing  to  government,  and 
dividing  public  opinion,  sprung 
out  of  the  new  state  of  our  foreign 
relations,  and  were  succeeded  by 
others,  and  yet  again  by  others, 
equally  embarrassing,  and  equally 
exciting  division  and  discord, 
through  the  long  series  of  twenty 
years,  till  they  finally  issued  in 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


105 


the  war  with  England.  Down  to 
the  close  of  that  war,  no  distinct, 
marked  and  deliberate  attention 
had  been  given,  or  could  have 
been  given,  to  tlie  internal  condi- 
tion of  the  country,  its  capacities 
of  improvement,  or  the  constitu- 
tional power  ofthe  Government,  in 
regard  to  objects  connected  with 
vguch  improvement. 

The  peace,  Mr  President, 
brought  about  an  entirely  new,  and 
a  most  interesting  state  of  things ; 
St  opened  to  us  other  prospects, 
and  suggested  other  duties ;  we 
ourselves  were  changed,  and  the 
whole  world  was  changed.  The 
pacification  of  Europe,  after  June, 
1815,  assumed  a  firm  and  perma- 
nent aspect.  The  nations  evi- 
dently manifested  that  they  were 
disposed  for  peace  ;  some  agita- 
tion of  the  waves  might  be  expect- 
ed, even  after  the  storm  had  sub- 
sided, but  the  tendency  was, 
strongly  and  rapidly,  towards  set' 
tied  repose. 

It  so  happened,  sir,  that  I  was 
at  that  time  a  member  of  Congress 
and,  like  others,  naturally  turned 
my  attention  to  the  contemplation 
of  the  newly  altered  condition 
of  the  country  and  of  the  world. 
It  appeared  plainly  enough  to  me, 
as  well  as  to  wiser  and  more  ex- 
perienced men,  that  the  poheyof 
the  Government  would  necessarily 
take  a  start  in  a  new  direction  ; 
because  new  directions  would 
necessarily  be  given  to  tlie  pursuits 
and  occupations  of  the  people. 
We  had  pushed  our  commerce 
far  and  fast,  under  the  advantage 
of  a  neutral  flag.  But  there  were 
now  no  longer  flags,  either  neutral 
or  belligerent.  The  harvest  of 
neutrality  had  been  great,  but  we 
had  gathered  it  all.  With  the 
10 


peace  of  Europe,  it  was  obvious 
there  would  spring  up,  in  her 
circle  of  nations,  a  revived  and 
invigorated  spirit  of  trade,  and  a 
new  activity  in  all  the  business  and 
objects  of  civilized  life.  Hereafter, 
our  commercial  gains  were  to  be 
earned  only  by  success  in  a  close 
and  intense  competition.  Other 
nations  would  produce  for  them- 
selves, and  carry  for  themselves, 
and  manufacture  for  themselves, 
to  the  full  extent  of  their  abilities. 
The  crops  of  our  plains  would  no 
longer  sustain  European  armies, 
nor  our  ships  longer  supply  those, 
whom  war  had  rendered  unable 
to  supply  themselves.  It  was  ob- 
vious, that  under  these  circumstan- 
ces, the  country  would  begin  to 
survey  itself,  and  to  estimate  its 
own  capacity  of  improvement. 
And  this  improvement,  how  was 
it  to  be  accomplished,  and  who 
was  to  accomplish  it  ? 

We  were  ten  or  twelve  millions 
of  people,  spread  over  almost  half 
a  world.  We  were  twentyfour 
states,  some  stretching  along  the 
same  seaboard,  some  along  the 
same  line  of  inland  frontier,  and 
others  on  opposite  banks  of  the 
same  vast  rivers.  Tv«^o  consider- 
ations at  once  presented  them- 
selves, in  looking  at  this  state  of 
things,  with  great  force.  One 
was,  that  that  great  branch  of  im- 
provement, which  consisted  in 
furnishing  new  facilities  of  inter- 
course necessarily  ran  into  different 
States,  in  every  leading  instance, 
and  would  benefit  the  citizens  of 
all  such  States.  No  one  State, 
therefore,  in  such  cases,  would 
assume  the  whole  expense,  nor 
was  the  cooperation  of  several 
States  to  be  expected.  Take  the 
instance  of  the  Delaware  break- 


30(5 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —30. 


water.  Jt  will  cost  several  millions 
of  money.  Would  Pennsylvania 
alone  have  ever  constructed  it? 
Certainly  never,  while  this  Union 
lasts,  because  it  is  not  for  her  sole 
benefit.  Would  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey  and  Delaware  have 
united  to  accomplish  it,  at  their 
joint  expense  ?  Certainly  not,  for 
the  same  reason.  It  could  not  be 
done,  therefore,  but  by  the  general 
government.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  large  inland  undertak- 
ings, except  that,  in  them,  govern- 
ment, instead  of  bearing  the  whole 
expense,  cooperates  with  others 
who  bear  a  part.  The  other  con- 
sideration is,  that  the  United  States 
have  the  means.  They  enjoy  the 
revenues  derived  from  commerce, 
and  the  States  have  no  abundant 
and  easy  sources  ofpublic  income. 
The  custom-houses  fill  the  gene- 
ral treasury,  while  the  States 
have  scanty  resources,  except  by 
resort  to  heavy  direct  taxes. 

Under  this  view  of  things,  I 
thought  it  necessary  to  settle,  at 
least  for  myself,  some  definite  no- 
tions, with  respect  to  the  powers 
of  government,  in  regard  to  inter- 
nal affairs.  It  may  not  savor  too 
much  of  self-commendation  to 
remark,  that  with  this  object,  I 
considered  the  Constitution,  its 
judicial  construction,  its  cotempo- 
raneous  exposition,  and  the  whole 
history  of  the  legislation  of  Con- 
gress under  it ;  and  I  arrived  at 
the  conclusion,  that  government 
had  power  to  accomplish  sundry 
objects,  or  aid  in  their  accomplish- 
ment, which  are  now  commonly 
spoken  of  as  Internal  Improve- 
ments. That  conclusion  was 
edopted,  and  acted  on,  even  so 

aly  as  1816.    And,  Mr  Presi- 


dent, I  have  further  to  say,  that  I 
made  up  these  opinions,  and  enter- 
ed on  this  course  of  political  con- 
duct, Teucro  Buce.  Yes,  sir,  I 
pursued,  in  all  this,  a  South  Caro- 
lina tract.  I  repeat,  that  leading 
gentlemen  from  South  Carolina 
were  first  and  foremost  in  behalf 
of  the  doctrines  of  internal  im- 
provements, when  those  doctrines 
first  came  to  be  considered  and  act- 
ed upon  in  Congress.  The  debate 
on  the  bank  question,  on  the  tariff 
of  1 8 1 6  and  on  the  direct  lax,  will 
show  whowas  who,  and  what  was 
what,  at  that  time.  The  tariff  of 
1816,  one  of  the  plain  cases  of 
oppression  and  usurpation,  from 
whichjif  the  government  does  not 
recede,  individual  states  may  jus- 
ly  secede  from  the  government,  is, 
sir,  in  truth  a  South  Carolina  tariff, 
supported  bySouth  Carolina  votes. 
But  for  those  votes,  it  could  not 
have  passed  in  the  form  in  which 
it  did  pass  ;  whereas  if  it  had  de- 
pended on  Massachusetts  votes,  it 
would  have  been  lost.  I  do  not 
say  this  to  reproach  South  Caroli- 
na ;  I  only  state  the  fact,  and  I 
think  it  will  appear  to  be  true, 
that  among  the  earhest  and  boldest 
advocates  of  the  tarifl^,  as  a  meas- 
ure of  protection,  and  on  the  ex- 
press ground  of  protection,  were 
leading  gentlemen  of  South  Caro- 
lina in  Congress.  The  act,  sir,  then 
passed,  and  received  on  its  passage 
the  support  of  a  majority  of  the 
representatives  of  South  Carolina 
present  and  voting.  This  act  is 
the  first,  in  the  order  of  those  now 
denounced  as  plain  usurpations. 
We  see  it  daily  in  the  list  by  the 
side  of  those  of  1824,  and  1828, 
as  a  case  of  manifest  oppression, 
justifying  disunion.    1  put  it  home 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


lor 


to  the  honorable  member  from 
South  Carolina,  that  his  own  State 
was  not  only  '  art  and  part '  in  this 
measure,  but  the  causa  causans. 
Without  her  aid,  this  seminal  prin- 
ciple of  mischief,  this  root  of  Upas, 
eould  not  have  been  planted.  I 
have  already  said,  and  it  is  true, 
that  this  act  proceeded  on  the 
ground  of  protection.  It  interfered 
directly,  with  existing  interests  of 
ereat  value  and  amount.  It  cut 
up  the  Calcutta  cotton  trade  by 
the  roots.  But  it  passed,  never- 
theless, and  it  passed  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  protecting  manufactures, 
on  the  principle  against  free  trade, 
on  the  principle  opposed  to  that 
which  lets  us  alone. 

Such,  Mr  President,  were  the 
opinions  of  important  and  leading 
gentlemen  from  South  Carolina, 
on  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ment, in  1816.  I  went  out  of 
Congress  the  next  year,  and  re- 
turning again  in  1823,  thought  I 
found  South  Carolina  where  I  had 
left  her.  I  really  supposed  that 
all  things  remained  as  they  were, 
and  that  the  South  Carolina  doc- 
trine of  internal  improvements 
would  be  defended  by  the  same 
eloquent  voices,  and  the  same 
strong  arms,  as  formerly. .  In  the 
hpse  of  these  six  years,  it  is  true, 
political  associations  had  assumed 
a  new  aspect  and  nev/  divisions. 
A  party  had  arisen  in  tlie  South, 
hostile  to  the  doctrine  of  internal 
improvements,  and  had  vigorously 
attacked  that  doctrine.  Anti-con- 
solidation was  the  flag  under  whicli 
this  party  fought,  and  its  support- 
ers inveighed  against  internal  im- 
provements, much  after  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  honorable  genlle- 
ipan  has  now  inveighed  against 
ihem  as  part  and  parcel  of  tlie 


system  of  consolidation.  Whe- 
ther this  party  arose  in  South 
Carolina  herself,  or  in  her  neigh- 
borhood, is  more  than  I  know. 
1  think  the  latter.  However  that 
may  have  been,  there  were  those 
found  in  South  Carolina  ready 
to  make  v.'ar  upon  it,  and  who 
did  make  intrepid  war  upon  it. 
Names  being  regarded  as  things, 
in  such  controversies,  they  be- 
stowed on  the  anti-improvement 
gentlemen,  the  appellation  of  rad- 
icals. Yes,  sir,  the  name  of 
radicals,  as  a  term  of  distinc- 
tion, applicable  and  applied  to 
those  who  denied  the  liberal  doc- 
trines of  internal  improvements, 
originated,  according  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  somewhere 
between  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  Well,  sir,  these  mis- 
chievous radicals  were  to  be  put 
down,  and  the  strong  arm  of  South 
Carolina  was  stretched  out  to  put 
them  down.  About  this  time,  sir, 
I  returned  to  Congress.  The 
battle  with  the  radicals  had  been 
fought,  and  our  South  Carolina 
champions  of  the  doctrines  of 
internal  improvements  had  nobly 
maintained  their  ground,  and  were 
understood  to  have  achieved  a 
victory. 

Such  are  the  opinions,  sir, 
which  were  maintained  by  South 
Carolina  gentlemen  in  the  house 
of  Representatives,  on  the  subject 
of  internal  improvement,  when  I 
took  my  seat  there  as  a  member 
from  Massachusetts,  in  1823. 
But  this  is  not  ail :  we  had  a  bill 
before  us,  and  passed  it  in  that 
house,  entitled  '  An  act  to  procure 
the  necessary  surveys,  plans,  and 
estimates,  upon  the  subject  oi 
roads  and  canals.'  It  authorized 
the  President  to  cause  such  surveys 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


and  esiimGtcs  io  he  made  of  the 
routes  of  such  roads  and  canals  as 
he  might  deem  of  national  impor- 
tance in  a  commercial  or  military 
point  of  view,  or  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  mail;  nnd  appropria- 
ted thiity  thousand  dollars  out  of 
the  treasury,  to  defray  the  expense. 
This  act,  tiiough  preliminary  in  its 
nature,  covered  the  whole  ground. 
It  took  for  granted  the  complete 
power  of  internal  improvement,  as 
lar  as  any  of  its  advocates  have 
ever  contended  for  it.  Having 
passed  the  other  house,  the  bill 
came  up  to  the  Senate,  and  was 
here  considered  and  debated  in 
April,  1824.  The  honorable 
member  from  South  Carolina  was 
» -member  of  the  Senate  at  that 
time.  While  the  bill  was  under 
consideration  here,  a  motion  was 
made  to  add  the  following  proviso : 

'  Provided,  That  nothing  herein 
contained  shall  be  construed  to 
affirm  or  admit  a  power  in  Con- 
gress on  their  own  authority,  to 
make  roads  or  canals,  within  any 
of  the  states  of  the  Union.' 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken 
on  this' proviso,  and  the  honorable 
member  voted  in  the  negative. 
The  proviso  failed. 

A  motion  was  then  made  to  add 
this  proviso,  viz. 

'  Provided,  That  the  faith  of 
the  United  States  is  hereby 
])ledged,  that  no  money  shall  ever 
be  expended  for  roads  or  canals, 
except  it  shall  be  among  the 
several  States,  and  in  the  same 
proportion  as  direct  taxes  are  laid 
nnd  assessed  by  the  provisions  of 
the  Constitution.' 

The  honorable  member  voted 
a^rainst  this  proviso  also,  and  it 
failed. 


The  bill  was  then  put  on  its 
])assrjge.  and  the  honorable  mem- 
ber voted  for  it,  and  it  passed,  and 
became  a  law. 

Now,  it  strikes  me,  sir,  that 
there  is  no  maintaining  these  votes, 
but  upon  the  power  of  internal 
improvement,  in  its  broadest  sense. 
In  truih,  these  bills  for  surveys 
and  estimates  have  always  been 
considered  as  test  questions. 
They  sliow  who  is  for,  and  who 
against  internal  improvement. 
This  law  itself  went  the  whole 
length,  and  assumed  the  full  and 
complete  power.  The  gentle- 
man's votes  sustained  that  power, 
in  every  form,  in  w  hich  the  various 
propositions  to  amend  presented 
it.  He  went  for  the  entire  and 
imrestrained  authority,  without 
consulting  the  Slates,  and  without 
agreeing  to  any  proportionate  dis- 
tiibution.  And  now,  suffer  me 
to  remind  you,  Mr  President,  that 
it  is  this  very  same  power,  tlius 
sanctioned,  in  ever  form,  by  the 
gentleman's  own  opinion,  that  is 
so  plain  and  manifest  a  usurpation, 
that  the  state  of  South  Carolina  is 
supposed  to  be  justified  in  refusing 
submission  to  any  laws  carrying 
the  power  into  effect. 

The  tariff,  which  Soudi  Caro- 
lina had  an  efficient  hand  in  estab- 
lishing, in  181G,  and  this  asserted 
power  of  internal  improvement, 
advanced  by  her  in  the  same  year, 
and  as  we  have  now  seen  approved 
and  sanctioned  ])y  her  representa- 
tives in  J  824,  these  two  measures 
are  the  great  grounds  on  which 
she  is  now  thought  to  be  justified 
in  breaking  up  the  Union,  if  she 
sees  fit  to  break  it  up ! 

I  may  now  safely  say,  I  think, 
tliat  we  have  had  the  authority  of 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


i09 


leading  and  distinguished  gentle- 
men from  South  Carolina  in  sup- 
port of  the  doctrine  of  internal 
improvement.  I  repeat,  that,  up 
to  1824,  J,  for  one,  follovveii 
South  Carolina  ;  but  when  that 
star  in  its  ascension,  veered  off  in 
an  unexpected  direction,  I  relied 
on  its  light  no  longer.  [Here  the 
Vice  President  said  —  does  the 
Chair  understand  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts,  to  say,  tfiat 
the  person  now  occupying  the 
Chair  of  the  Senate,  has  changed 
his  opinions  on  the  sabject  of 
internal  improvements  ?]  From 
nothing  ever  said  to  me,  sir,  have 
I  had  reason  to  know  of  any 
change  in  the  opinions  of  the  per- 
son filling  the  Chair  of  the  Senate. 
If  such  change  has  taken  place,  I 
regret  it ;  I  speak  generally  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina. 

As  well  as  I  recollect  the  course 
of  his  remarks,  the  honorable 
gentleman  next  I'ecurred  to  the 
subject  of  the  tariff.  He  did  not 
doubt  the  \vord  must  be  cf  un- 
pleasant sound  to  me,  and  pro- 
ceeded, with  an  effort  neither  new, 
nor  attended  with  new  success,  to 
involve  me  and  my  vote  in  in- 
consistency and  contradiction.  I 
am  happy  the  honorable  gentle- 
man has  furnished  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  a  timely  remark  or  two 
on  that  subject,  f  was  glad  he 
approached  it,  for  it  is  a  question 
1  enter  upon  without  fear  from 
anybody.  The  strenuous  toil  of 
the  gentle-nan  has  been  to  raise  an 
inconsistency  between  my  dissent 
to  the  tariff  in  1824  and  my  vote 
in  1828.  li  is  labor  lost.  A 
plain  tale  explains  the  whole  mat- 
ter. In  1816, 1  had  not  acquiesced 
m  the  tariff,  then  supported  by 


South  Carolina.  To  some  parts 
of  it,  especially,  t  felt  and  ex- 
pressed great  repugnance.  1  held 
the  same  opinions  in  1821  at  the 
meeting  in  FaneuilHall,  to  whicli 
the  gentleman  has  alluded.  I 
said  thei!,  and  say  now,  that,  as 
an  original  question,  the  authority 
of  Congress  to  exercise  the  re- 
venue power,  with  direct  refer- 
ence to  the  protection  of  man^'- 
fiictures  is  a  questionable  authority, 
far  more  questionable,  in  my  judg- 
ment, than  the  power  of  internal 
improvem,ents.  I  must  confess, 
that  in  one  respect,  some  impres- 
sion has  been  made  on  my  opin- 
ions lately.  Mr  Madison's  publi- 
cation has  put  the  power  in  a  very 
strong  light.  He  has  placed  it,  i 
must  acknowledge,  upon  grounds 
of  construction  and  argtiment, 
which  seem  impregnable.  Biit 
even  if  the  power  were  doubtful, 
on  the  face  of  the  Constitutioji 
itself,  it  had  been  assumed  and 
asserted  in  the  first  revenue  iaw 
ever  passed  under  that  same  Con- 
sthution  ;  and,  on  this  ground,  as 
a  matter  settled  by  cotemporane- 
ous  practice,  1  had  refrained  from 
expressing  the  opinion  that  the  ta- 
riff la  ws  transcended  constitutioaal. 
limits,  as  the  gentleman  supposes. 

With  a  great  majority  of  the 
representatives  of  Massachusetts, 
I  voted  against  the  tariff  of  1824- 
My  reasons  were  then  given,  and 
I  will  not  now  repeat  them.  But, 
notwithstanding  our  dissent,  the 
great  States  of  New  Fork,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio  and  Kentucky  went 
for  the  biil,  m  almost  unbroken 
colun^n,  and  it  passed.  Congress 
and  the  Pres;ident  sanctioned  it, 
and  it  became  the  law  of  the  land, 
Wbatj  the%  were  we  to  do  ?  Our 


110 


ANNUAL  REGISTZR,  1829  —  30. 


only  ojjlion  was  either  to  fall  in 
with  this  settled  course  of  public 
])olic'y,  and  accommodate  our- 
selves to  it  as  well  as  we  coiild, 
or  to  embrace  the  South  Carolina 
doctrine,  and  talk  of  nullifying 
the  statute  by  Siate  interference. 

This  last  alternative  did  not  suit 
our  principles,  and,  of  course,  wc 
adopted  the  former.  In  1827, 
the  subject  came  again  before 
Congress,  on  a  proposition  favor- 
able to  wool  and  woollePiS.  We 
looked  upon  the  system  of  pro- 
tection as  being  fixed  and  settled. 
The  law  of  1824  rcmiiined.  It 
had  gone  into  full  operation,  and 
in  regard  to  some  objects  intended 
by  it,  perhaps  most  of  them  had 
produced  all  its  expected  effects. 

But  owing  to  subsequent  and 
unforeseen  occurrences  thebeneCit 
intended  by  it  to  wool  and  wool- 
len fabrics,  liad  not  been  realized. 
Events,  not  known  here  when  the 
Jaw  passed,  had  taken  place, 
which  defeated  its  object  in  that 
jiarticular  respect.  A  measure 
w'as  accordingly  brought  forward 
to  meet  this  precise  deficiency,  to 
remedy  this  particular  defect.  It 
was  limited  to  wool  and  woollens. 
Was  ever  anytliing  more  reasona- 
ble? If  the  policy  of  the  tariff 
laws  had  become  established  in 
].rinciple,  as  the  permanent  policy 
of  the  goveriiment,  should  they 
liOt  be  revised  and  amended,  and 
made  equal,  like  other  laws,  as 
exigencies  should  arise,  orjustico 
require  ?  Because  we  had  doubt- 
ed about  adopting  the  system, 
were  we  to  refuse  to  cure  its  manl- 
iest defects,  after  it  became  adopt- 
ed, and  when  no  one  attempted 
its  repeal?  And  this  is  the  in- 
consistency so  much  bruited.  1 


had  voted  against  the  tariff  of 
1824  —  but   it   passed;  and  in 
1  827  and  1828,  1  voted  to  amend 
it  in  a  point  essential  to  the  inter- 
est of  my  constituents.    T  need 
not  recur  to   the  history  of  u 
measure  so  recent.    Its  enemies 
spiced  it  with   whatsoever  they 
thought  would  render  it  distasteful ; 
its  friends  took  it,  drugged  as  it 
was.    Vast  amounts  of  property^ 
many  millions,  had  been  invested 
in  manufiictures,  under  the  induce- 
ments of  1824.    Events  called 
loudly,  as  I  thought,  for  further 
regulation  to  secure  the  degree  of 
protection  intended  by  that  act. 
I  was  disposed  to  vote  for  such 
regulation,  and  desired  nothing 
more ;  but  certainly  was  not  to 
be  bantered  cut  of  my  purpose 
by  a  threatened  augmentation  of 
duty  on  molasses  put  into  the  bill 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  making 
it  obnoxious.   The  vote  may  have 
been  right  or  wrong,  wise  or  un- 
wise ;  but  it  is  little  less  than  ab- 
surd to  allege  against  it  an  incon- 
sistency v>ith   opposition  to  the 
former  law. 

As  to  the  general  subject  of 
the  tariff  1  have  little  now  to  say. 
Another  opportunity  may  be  pre- 
sented. 1  remarked  the  other 
day,  that  this  policy  did  not  begin 
with  us  in  New  England  ;  and 
yet,  sir.  New  England  is  charged 
with  vehemence,  as  being  favora- 
ble or  charged  with  equal  vehe- 
mence, as  being  unfavorable  to 
the  tariff  policy,  just  as  best  suits 
the  tlfne,  ))lace,  and  occasion  for 
makim;  s(Mne  charge  against  her. 
The  credulity  of  the  public  has 
been  put  to  its  extreme  capacity 
of  false  impression,  relative  to 
her  conduct,  in  this  particular. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE.  lit 


Through  ail  the  South,  during  the 
kite  contest,  it  was  New  England 
j)olicy  and  a  New  England  ad- 
ministration, that  was  afflicting 
the  country  with  a  tariff  policy 
beyond  all  endurance,  while  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Alleghany, 
even  the  act-of  1828  itself,  the 
very  sublimated  essence  of  op- 
})ression  according  to  Southern 
opinions,  was  pronounced  to  be 
one  of  those  blessings,  for  which 
the  West  was  indebted  to  the  '  ge- 
nerous South.' 

With  large  investments  in 
manufacturing  establishments  and 
many  and  various  interests  con- 
nected with  and  dependent  on 
them,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
New  England,  any  more  than 
other  portions  of  the  country,  will 
now  consent  to  any  measure,  de- 
structive or  highly  dangerous. 
The  duty  of  the  Government,  at 
the  present  moment,  would  seem 
to  be  to  preserve,  not  to  destroy ; 
to  maintain  the  position  which  it 
has  assumed  ;  and  for  one,  1  shall 
feel  it  an  indispensable  obligation 
to  ho]d  it  steady,  as  far  as  in  my 
power,  to  that  degree  of  protec- 
tion which  it  has  undertaken  to 
bestow.    No  more  of  the  tariff. 

Professing  to  be  provoked  by 
w-hat  he  chose  to  consider  a  charge 
made  by  me  against  South  Caro- 
lina, the  honorable  member,  Mr 
President,  has  taken  up  a  new 
crusade  against  New  England. 
Leaving  altogether  the  subject  of 
the  public  lands,  in  which  his  suc- 
cess, perhaps,  had  been  neither 
distinguished  nor  satisfactory,  and 
letting  go,  also,  of  the  topic  of  the 
tariff,  he  sallied  forth  in  a  general 
assault,  on  the  opinions,  politics, 
and  parties  of  New  England,  as 


they  have  been  exhibited  in  tlie 
last  thirty  years.  This  is  natural. 
The  '  narrow  policy'  of  the  public 
lands  had  proved  a  legal  settlement 
in  South  Carolina,  and  was  not  to 
be  removed.  The  '  accursed  poli- 
cy' of  the  tariff,  also,  had  estab- 
lished the  fact  of  its  birth  and  par- 
entage in  the  same  State.  No  won- 
der therefore,  the  gentleman  wish- 
ed to  carry  the  war,  as  he  express- 
ed it,  into  the  enemy's  country. 
Prudently  willing  to  quit  these 
subjects,  he  was  doubtless  desir- 
ous of  fastening  on  others,  which 
could  not  be  transferred  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  The 
politics  of  New  England  became 
his  theme.  What  has  he  done 
Has  he  maintained  his  own 
charges  ?  Has  he  sustained  him- 
self, in  his  attack  on  the  Govern- 
ment, and  on  the  history  of  the 
North  in  the  matter  of  the  public 
lands  ?  Oh,  no,  but  he  has  '  car- 
ried the  war  into  the  enemy'.^ 
country  !  '  Carried  the  war  into 
the  enemy's  country  !  Yes,  ami 
what  sort  of  a  war  has  he  made 
of  it  ?  He  has  stretched  a  drag- 
net over  the  whole  stirface  of 
perished  pamphlets,  indiscreet 
sermons,  frothy  paragraphs,  and 
fuming  popular  addresses ;  over 
whatever  the  pulpit,  in  its  mo- 
ments of  alarm,  the  press  in  its 
heats,  and  parties  in  their  extra- 
vagance, have  severally  thrown 
off,  in  times  of  general  excitement 
and  violence.  He  has  thus  swept 
together  a  mass  of  such  things, 
as  but  that  they  are  now  old,  the 
public  health  would  have  required 
him  rather  to  leave  in  their  state 
of  dispersion.  For  a  good  long 
hour  or  two,  we  had  the  unbroken 
pleasure  of  listening  to  the  boa- 


112 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


orable  member,  wiiile  he  recited, 
with  his  usual  grace  and  spirit, 
and  with  evident  high  gusto, 
speeches,  pamphlets,  addresses, 
and  all  the  et  ceteras  g1"  the  polit- 
ical press,  such  as  warm  heads 
produce  m  warm  times  ;  and  such 
as  it  would  be  '  discomfiture^  in- 
deed, for  any  one,  whose  taste 
did  not  delight  in  that  sort  of  read- 
ing, to  be  obliged  to  peruse.  That 
is  iiis  war.  This  ft  is  to  carry 
the  war  into  the  enemy's  country, 
it  is  in  an  invasion  of  this  sort, 
that  he  flatters  himself  with  the 
expectation  of  gaining  laurels,  fit 
to  adorn  a  Senator's  brow. 

Mr  President,  I  shall  not,  it 
will  not,  I  trust,  be  expected  that 
i  should,  either  now,  or  at  any 
lime,  separate  this  farrago  into 
parts,  and  answer  and  examine  its 
components.  1  shall  hardly  bestow 
upon  it  at  all,  a  general  remark 
or  two.  In  the  run  of  forty  years 
under  this  -Constitution,  we  have 
exjjerisnced  sundry  successive 
violent  party  contests.  Party 
arose,  indeed,  with  the  Constitd- 
tion  itself,  and,  in  some  form  or 
other,  has  attended  it  through 
the  greater  part  of  its  history. 
Whether  any  other  Constitution 
than  the  old  articles  of  confeder- 
ation, was  desirable,  was,  itself, 
a  question  on  v/hich  parties  form- 
ed ;  if  a  new  Constitution  were 
framed,  what  powers  should  be 
given  to  it,  was  another  question ; 
and,  when  it  iiad  been  formed, 
what  was,  in  fact,  the  just  extent 
of  the  powers  actually  conferre{l, 
was  a  third.  Parties,  as  we  know, 
existed,  under  the  first  adniinistra- 
tion,  as  distinctly  marked,  as  those 
which  nianifested  themselves  at 
any  subsequent  period.   The  con- 


test immediately  preceding  the 
political  change  in  1801,  and  that 
again,  which  existed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  late  war,  are 
other  instances  of  party  excite- 
ment, of  something  more  than 
usutil  strength  and  intensity.  la 
all  these  conflicts  there  was,  no 
doubt,  much  violence  on  both  and 
all  sides.  It  would  be  impossible, 
if  one  had  a  fancy  for  such  em- 
ployment, to  adjust  the  relative 
quantum  of  violence  between 
these  contending  parties.  There 
was  enough  in  each,  as  must  al- 
ways be  expec^ted  in  popular  Gov- 
ernments, With  a  great  deal  of 
proper  and  decorous  discussion, 
there  was  mmgled  a  great  deal, 
also,  of  declamation,  virulence, 
crimination,  and  abuse. 

In  regard  to  any  party,  proba- 
bly, in  one  of  the  leading  epochs 
in  the  history  of  parties,  enougli 
may  be  found  to  make  out  anoth- 
er equally  mflamed  exhibition,  as 
that  with  which  the  honorable 
member  has  edified  us.  For  my- 
self, I  shall  not  rake  among  the 
rubbish  of  by-gone  times,  to  see 
what  I  can  find,  or  whether  I 
cannot  find  something,  by  which 
1  can  fix  a  blot  on  the  escutcheon 
of  any  State,  any  party,  or  any 
part  of  the  country.  General 
Washington's  administration  was 
steadily  and  zealously  maintained, 
as  we  all  know,  by  New  England. 
It  was  violently  opposed  else- 
where. We  know  in  whst  quarter 
he  had  the  most  earnest,  constant 
and  persevering  support,  in  all  his 
great  and  leading  measures.  We 
know  where  his  private  and  per- 
sonal character  was  held  in  the 
highest  degree  of  attachment  and 
veneration;  and  we  know,  too, 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


115 


where  his  measures  were  opposed, 
his  services  slighted,  and  his  cha- 
acter  vilified.  We  know,  or  we 
might  know,  if  we  turned  to  the 
journals,  who  expressed  respect, 
gratitude,  and  regret,  when  he 
retired  from  the  chief  magistracy  ; 
and  who  refused  to  express  either 
respect,  gratitude,  or  regret  —  I 
shall  not  open  those  journals. 
Publications  more  abusive  or  scur- 
rilous never  saw  the  light,  than 
were  sent  forth  against  Washing- 
ton, and  all  his  leading  measures, 
from  presses  south  of  New  Eng- 
land. But  I  shall  not  look  them 
up.  I  employ  no  scavengers  — 
no  one  is  in  attendance  on  me, 
tendering  such  means  of  retalia- 
tion ;  and  if  there  were,  with  an 
ass'  load  of  them,  with  bulk  as 
huge  as  that  which  the  gentleman 
himself  has  produced,  I  would 
not  touch  one  of  them.  I  see 
enough  of  the  violence  of  our 
own  times,  to  be  no  way  anxious 
to  rescue  from  forgetfulness  the 
extravagances  of  times  past. 
Besides,  what  is  all  this  to  the 
present  purpose  ?  It  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  pubhc  lands,  in 
regard  to  v/hich  the  attack  w^as 
begun ;  and  it  has  nothing  to  do 
with  those  seritiments  and  opinions 
which  I  have  thought  tend  to  dis- 
union, and  all  of  which  the  hon- 
orable member  seems  to  have 
adopted  himself,  and  undertaken 
to  defend.  New  England  has, 
at  times,  so  argues  the  gentle- 
man, held  opinions  as  dangerous 
as  those  which  he  now  holds.  Be 
it  so.  But  why,  therefore,  does 
he  abuse  New  England  ?  If  he 
finds  himself  countenanced  by 
acts  of  hers,  how  is  it  that,  while 
he  relies  on  these  acts,  he  covers, 


or  seeks  to  cover,  their  authors 
with  reproach  ? 

But  if,  in  the  course  of  forty 
years,  there  have  been  undue 
effervescences  of  party  in  New 
England,  has  the  same  thing  hap- 
pened nowhere  else  ?  Party  ani- 
mosity, and  party  outrage,  not  in 
New  England,  but  elsewhere,  de- 
nounced President  Washington, 
not  only  as  a  federalist,  but  as  a 
tory,a  British  agent,  a  man  who, 
in  his  high  office,  sanctioned  cor- 
ruption. But  does  the  honorable 
member  suppose,  that  if  I  had  a 
tender  here,  who  should  put  such 
an  effusion  of  wickedness  and 
folly  in  my  hand,  that  I  would 
stand  up  and  read  it  against  the 
South  ?  Parties  ran  into  great 
heats,  again,  in  1799,  and  1800. 

What  was  said,  or  rather  what 
was  not  said,  in  those  years, 
against  John  Adams,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  its  admitted  ablest 
defender  on  the  floor  of  Congress  ? 
If  the  gentleman  wishes  to  in- 
crease his  stores  of  party  abuse 
and  frothy  violence  ;  if  he  has  a 
determined  proclivity  to  such  pur- 
suits, there  are  treasures  of  that 
sort  south  of  the  Potomac,  much 
to  his  taste,  yet  untouched.  — I 
shall  not  touch  them. 

The  parties  which  divided  the 
country,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  late  war,  were  violent. 
But  then  there  was  violence  on 
both  sides,  and  violence  in  every 
State.  Minorities  and  majorities 
were  equally  violent.  There  was 
no  more  violence  against  the  war 
in  New  England  than  in  other 
States  ;  nor  any  more  appearance 
of  violence,  except  that,  owing  to 
a  dense  population,  greater  facility 


114 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


of  assembling,  and  more  presses, 
there  nmy  have  been  more  in 
quantity  spoken  and  printed  there 
lhan  in  some  other  places. 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  say, 
that  if,  ill  any  part  of  this,  their 
grateful  occupation,  if,  in  all  their 
researches,  they  find  anything  in 
the  history  of  Massachusetts,  or 
New  England,  or  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  any  legislative,  or  other 
public  body,  disloyaho  the  Union, 
speaking  slightly  of  its  value,  pro- 
posing to  break  it  up,  or  recom- 
mending non-intercourse  with 
neighboring  States,  on  account  of 
difference  of  political  opinion,  then, 
sir,  1  give  them  all  up  to  the  hon- 
orable gentleman's  unrestrained 
rebuke  ;  expecting,  however,  that 
lie  will  extend  his  bufFetings,  in 
like  maner,  to  all  similar  pro- 
ceedingSy  wherever  elsefovnd. 

Mr  President,  in  carrying  his 
warfare,  such  as  it  was  into  New 
England,  the  honorable  gentleman 
all  along  professes  to  be  acting 
on  the  defensive.  He  desires  to 
consider  me  as  having  assailed 
South  Carolina,  and  insists  that 
lie  comes  forth  only  as  her  cham- 
pion, and  in  her  defence. 

I  do  not  admit  that  I  made  any 
attack  whatever  on  South  Caro- 
lina. Nothing  like  it.  The  honor- 
able member,  in  his  first  speech, 
expressed  opinions,  in  regard  to 
revenue  ,  and  some  other  topics, 
which  I  heai-d  both  with  pain  and 
with  surprise.  1  told  the  gentle- 
man that  I  was  aware  that  such 
sentiments  were  entertained  out 
of  the  Government,  but  had  not 
expected  to  find  them  advanced 
in  it ;  that  I  knew  there  were  per- 
sons in  the  South,  who  speak 
of  Qur  Union  with  indifference, 


or  doubt,  taking  pains  to  magnify 
its  evils,  and  to  say  nothing  of  its 
benefits ;  that  the  honorable  mem- 
ber himself,  I  was  sure,  could 
never  be  one  of  these ;  and  I 
regretted  the  expression  of  such 
opinions  as  he  had  avowed,  be- 
cause I  thought  their  obvious  ten- 
dency was  to  encourage  feelings 
of  disrespect  to  the  Union,  and  to 
weaken  its  connexion.  I  said 
nothing  of  the  recent  conventions. 
I  spoke  in  the  most  guarded  and 
careful  manner,  and  only  express- 
ed my  regret  for  the  publication  of 
opinions  which  I  presumed  the 
honorable  member  disapproved 
as  much  as  myself.  In  this,  it 
seem^s,  I  was  mistaken.  I  do  not 
remember  that  the  gentleman  has 
disclaimed  any  sentiment,  or  any 
opinion,  of  a  supposed  anti-union 
tendency,  which  on  all  or  any  of 
the  recent  occasions  has  been  ex- 
pressed. The  whole  drift  of  his 
speech  has  been  rather  to  prove 
that,  in  divers  times  and  manners, 
sentiments  equally  liable  to  my 
objection  have  been  promulgated 
in  New  England.  And  one  would 
suppose  that  his  object,  in  this 
reference  to  Massachusetts,  was 
to  find  a  precedent  to  justify  pro- 
ceedings in  the  South,  were  it  not 
for  the  reproach  and  contumely, 
with  which  he  labors,  all  along,  to 
load  his  precedents. 

This  two-fold  purpose,  not  very 
consistent  with  itself,  one  would 
think  was  ■  exhibited  more  than 
once  in  the  course  of  his  speech. 
He  referred,  for  instance,  to  the 
Hartford  Convention.  Did  he  do 
this  for  authority,  or  for  a  topic  of 
reproach  ?  Apparently  for  both  j 
for  he  told  us  tliat  he  should  find 
no  fault  with  the  mere  fact  of 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


115 


holding  such  a  convention,  and 
considering  and  discussing  such 
questions  as  he  supposes  were  then 
and  there  discussed ;  but  what 
rendered  it  obnoxious,  was,  the 
time  it  was  holden,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country,  then 
existing.    We  were  in  a  war,  he 
said,  and  the  country  needed  all 
our  aid  ;  the  hand  ol  Government 
required  to  be  strengthened,  not 
weakened  ;  and  patriotism  should 
have  postponed  sucb  proceedings 
to  another  day.    The  thin^  itseli^ 
then,  is  a  precedent;  the  time 
and  manner  of  it,  only,  subject 
of  censure.    I  go  much  farther, 
on  this  point,  than  the  honorable 
member.  Supposing,  as  the  gen- 
tleman seems  to,  that  the  Hart- 
fort  Convention  assembled  for 
any  such  purpose  as  bi  caking  up 
the  Union,  because  they  thought 
unconstitutional  laws  had  been 
passed,  or  to  concert  on  that  sub- 
ject, or  to  calculate  the  value  of  the 
Union ;  supposing  this  to  be  their 
purpose,  or  any  part  of  it,  then  1 
say  the  meettng  itself  was  disloyal, 
and  was  obnoxious  to  censure, 
whether  held  in  time  of  peace  or 
time  of  war,  or  under  whatever 
circumstances.      The  material 
matter  is  the  object.    Is  dissolu- 
tion the  object  1  If  it  be,  ex- 
ternal circumstances  may  make 
it  a  more  or  less  aggravated  case, 
but  cannot  affect  the  principle. 
1  do  not  hold,  therefore,  sir,  that 
the    Hartford  Convention  was 
pardonable,  even  to  the  extent  of 
the  gentleman's  admission,  of  hs 
objects  were  really  such  as  have 
been  imputed  to  it.  There  never 
was  a  time,  under  any  degree  of 
excitement,  in  which  the  Hart- 
ford Convention,  or  any  other 


convention,  could  maintain  itself 
one  moment  in  New  England,  if 
assembled  for  any  such  purpose 
as  the  gentleman  say  would  have 
been  an  allowable  purpose  :  To 
hold  conventions  to  decide  ques- 
tions of  constitutional  law! — to 
try  the  binding  validity  of  statutes, 
by  votes  in  a  convention  !  Sir, 
the  Hartford  Convention,  I  pre- 
sume, would  not  desire  that  the 
honorable  gentleman  should  be 
their  defender  or  advocate,  if  he 
puts  their  case  upon  such  untena- 
ble and  extravagant  grounds. 

Then,  sir,  the  gentleman  has 
no  fault  to  find  with  these  recently 
promulgated  South  Carolina  opin- 
ions. 

And,  certainly,  he  need  have 
none  ;  for  his  own  sentiments,  as 
now  advanced,  and  advanced  on 
reflection,  as  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  comprehend  them,  go  the 
full  length  of  all  these  opinions. 
I  propose,  sir,  to  say  something 
on  these,  and  to  consider  how  far 
they  are  just  and  constitutional. 
Before  doing  that,  however,  let 
me  observe,  that  the  eulogium 
pronounced  on  the  character  of 
the  state  of  South  Carolina  by 
the  honorable  gentleman,  for  her 
revolutionary  and  other  merits, 
meets  my  hearty  concurrence. 
I  shall  not  acknowledge,  that  the 
honorable  member  goes  before 
me  in  regard  for  whatever  of  dis- 
tinguished talent,  or  distinguished 
character.  South  Carolina  has 
produced.  I  claim  part  of  the 
honor,  1  partake  in  the  pride  of 
her  great  names.  I  claim  them 
for  countrymen,  one  and  all. 
The  Laurens,  Rutledges,  the 
Pinckneys,  the  Sumpters,  the  Ma- 
rions —  Americans    all  — whose 


H6 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


fame  is  no  more  to  be  hemmed 
in  by  State  lines,  than  their  talents 
and  patriotism  were  capable  of 
being  circumscribed  within  the 
same  narrow  limits.    In  their  day 
and  generation,  they  served  and 
honored  the    country,  and  the 
whole  country,  and  their  renown 
is  of  the  treasures  of  the  whole 
country.    Him,  whose  honored 
name  the  gentleman  himself  bears 
—  does  he  suppose  me  less  capa- 
ble of  gratitude  for  his  patriotism, 
or  sympathy  forhis  sufferings,  than 
if  his  eyes  had  first  opened  upon 
the  light  in  Masbachusetts,  instead 
of  South   Carolina?    Does  he 
suppose  it  in  his  power  to  exhibit 
a  Carolina  name  so  bright  as  to 
produce  envy  in  my  bosom  ?  No, 
sir  —  increased  gratification  and 
delight,  rather.     I  thank  God, 
that  if  I  am  gifted  with  little  of 
the  spirit  which  is  said  to  be  able 
to  raise  mortals  to  the  skies,  I 
have  yet  none,  as  I  trust,  of  that 
other  spirit,  which  would  drag 
angels  down.    When  I  shall  be 
found,  in  my  place  here  in  the 
Senate,  or  elsewhere,  to  sneer  at 
public  merit,  because  it  happened 
to  spring  up  beyond  the  little 
limits  of  my  own  State  or  neigh- 
borhood ;  when  I  refuse,  for  any 
such  cause,  or  for  any  cause,  the 
homage  due  to  American  talent, 
lo  elevate  patriotism,  to  sincere 
devotion  to  liberty  and  the  coun- 
try ;  or  if  I  see  an  uncommon 
endowment  of  heaven  —  if  I  see 
extraordinary  capacity  and  virtue 
in  any  son  of  the  South  —  and  if, 
moved   by  local   prejudice,  or 
gangrened  by  State  jealousy,  I 
get  up  here  to  abate  the  tithe  of 
a  hair  from  his  just  character  and 
just  fame,  may  my  tongue  cleave 


to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  !  Sir, 
let  me  recur  to  pleasing  recollec- 
tions —  let  me  indulge  in  refresh- 
ing remembrance  of  the  past  — 
let  me  remind  you  that  in  early 
times  no  States  cherished  greater 
harmony,  both  of  principle  and 
of  feeling,  than  Massachusetts  and 
South  Carolina.  Would  to  God, 
that  harmony  might  again  return. 
Shoulder  to  shoulder  they  went 
through  the  revolution  —  hand  in 
hand  they  stood  round  the  ad- 
ministration of  W^ashington,  and 
felt  his  own  great  arm  lean  on  them 
for  support.  Unkind  feelings,  if  it 
exists,  alienation  and  distrust,  are 
the  growth,  unnatural  to  such  soils, 
of  false  principles  since  sown. 
They  are  weeds,  the  seeds  of 
which  that  same  great  arm  never 
scattered. 

Mr  President,  I  shall  enter  on 
no  encomium  upon  Massachusetts 

—  she  needs  none.  There  she 
is — behold  her  and  judge  for 
yourselves.    There  is  her  history 

—  the  world  knows  it  by  heart. 
The  past,  at  least,  is  secure. 
There  is  Boston,  and  Concord, 
and  Lexington,  and  Bunker  Hill ; 
and  there  they  will  remain  forever. 
The  bones  of  her  sons,  fallen  in 
the  great  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence, now  lie  mingled  with  the 
soil  of  every  State,  from  New 
England  to  Georgia ;  and  there 
they  will  lie  forever.  And,  sir, 
where  American  liberty  raised  its 
first  voice,  and  where  its  youth 
was  nurtured  and  sustained,  there 
it  still  lives,  in  the  strength  of  its 
manhood,  and  full  of  its  original 
spirit.  If  discord  and  disunion 
shall  wound  it — if  party  strife 
and  blind  ambition  shall  hawk  at 
and  tear  it ;  if  folly  and  madness. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


117 


if  uneasiness,  under  salutary  and 
necessary  restraint,  shall  succeed 
to  separate  it  from  that  union,  by 
which  alone  its  existence  is  made 
sure,  it  will  stand,  in  the  end,  by 
the  side  of  that  cradle  in  vvhicli 
its  infancy  was  rocked ;  it  will 
stretch  forth  its  arm  with  whatever 
of  vigor  it  may  still  retain  over  the 
friends  who  gather  around  it ;  and 
it  will  fall  at  last,  if  fall  it  must, 
amidst  the  proudest  momuiients 
of  its  own  glory,  and  on  the  very 
spot  of  its  origin. 

There  yet  remains  to  be  per- 
formed, Mr  President,  by  far  the 
most  grave  and  important  duty, 
which  [  feel  to  be  devolved  on 
me  by  this  occasion.  It  is  to  state, 
and  to  defend  what  I  conceive  to 
be  the  true  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution under  which  we  are  here 
assembled.  1  might  well  have 
desired  that  so  weighty  a  task 
should  have  fallen  into  other  and 
abler  hands.  But  I  have  met  the 
occasion,  not  sought  it;  and  I 
shall  proceed  to  state  ray  own 
sentiments,  without  challenging  for 
them  any  particular  regard,  with 
studied  plainness,  and.  as  much 
precision  as  possible. 

I  understand  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman from  South  Carolina  to 
maintain,  that  it  is  a  right  of  the 
State  Legislatures  to  interfere, 
whenever,  in  their  judgment,  this 
Government  iransceads  its  Con- 
stitutional limits,  and  to  arrest  the 
operation  of  its  laws. 

I  understand  him  to  maintain 
this  right,  as  a  right  existing  un- 
der the  Constitution  ;  not  as  a 
rightto  overthrow  it,  on  the  ground 
of  extreme  necessity,  such  as 
would  justify  violent  revolution. 

I  understand  him  to  maintain 
11 


an  authority  on  the  part  of  the 
States,  thus  to  interfere,  for  the 
purpose  of  correcting  the  exercise 
of  power  by  the  General  Govern- 
menX,  of  checking  it,  and  of  com- 
pelling it  to  conform  to  their  opin- 
ion of  the  extent  of  its  power. 

I  understand  him  to  maintain, 
that  tlie  ultimate  power  of  judging 
of  the  Constitutional  extent  of  its 
own  authority,  is  not  lodged  ex- 
clusively in  the  General  Govern- 
ment, or  any  branch  of  it  :  but 
that,  on  the  contrary,  the  Slates 
may  lawfully  decide  for  them- 
selves, and  each  State  for  itself, 
whether,  in  a  given  case,  the  act 
of  the  General  Government  trans- 
cends its  power. 

1  understand  him  to  insist,  that 
if  the  exigency  of  the  case,  in  the 
opinion  of  any  State  Government 
require  it,  such  State  Government 
may,  by  its  own  sovereign  author- 
ity, annul  an  act  of  the  General 
Government,  which  it  deems 
plainly  and  palpably  unconstitu- 
tional. 

This  is  the  sum  of  what  I  un- 
derstand from  him  to  be  the  South 
Carolina  doctrine.  I  propose  to 
consider  it,  and  to  compare  it  with 
the  Constitution.  Allow  me  to 
say,  as  a  preliminary  remark,  that 
I  call  this  the  South  Carolina 
doctrine,  only  because  the  gentle- 
man himself  has  so  denominated 
it.  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  say 
that  South  Carolina,  as  a  State  has 
ever  advanced  these  sentiments. 
I  hope  she  has  not,  and  never 
may.  That  a  great  majority, 
of  her  people  are  opposf^d  to  the 
tariiT  laws  is  doubtless  true. 
That  a  majority,  somewhat  less 
than  that  just  mentioned,  con- 
scientiously believe  these  laws  un- 


118 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


conslitutional,  may  probably  also 
be  true.  But,  that  any  majority 
holds  to  the  right  of  direct  State 
interference,  at  State  discretion, 
the  right  of  nullifying  acts  of 
Congress  by  acts  of  State  legisla- 
tion, is  more  than  I  know,  and 
what  I  shall  be  slow  to  believe. 

That  there  are  individuals,  be- 
sides the  honorable  gentleman, 
who  do  maintain  these  opinions,  is 
quite  certain.  I  recollect  the  re- 
cent expression  of  a  sentiment, 
which  circumstances  attending  its 
utterance  and  publication  justify 
lis  in  supposing  was  not  unpre- 
meditated. *  The  sovereignty  of 
the  State  ;  never  to  be  controlled, 
construed,  or  decided  on,  but  by 
her  own  feelings  of  honorable 
justice.' 

[Mr  Hayne  here  rose,  and  said, 
that  for  the  purpose  of  being  clear- 
ly understood,  he  would  state, 
that  his  proposition  was  in  the 
words  of  the  Virginia  resolution, 
as  follows  : 

*  That  this  Assembly  doth  ex- 
plicitly and  peremptorily  declare, 
that  it  view&  the  powers  of  the 
Federal  Government,  as  resulting 
from  the  compact,  to  which  the 
States  are  parties,  as  limited  by 
the  plain  sense  and  intention  of 
the  instrument  constituting  that 
compact,  as  no  farther  valid  than 
they  are  authorized  by  the  grants 
enumerated  in  that  compact ;  and 
that,  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  pal- 
pable, and  dangerous  exercise  of 
other  powers,  not  granted  by  the 
said  compact,  the  States  who  are 
parties  thereto  have  the  right,  and 
are  in  duty  bound  to  interpose  for 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil, 
and  for  maintaining,  within  their 


respective  hmits,  the  authorities, 
rights,  and  liberties  appertaining 
to  them.'] 

Mr  Webster  resumed  : 
I  am  quite  aware,  Mr  President, 
of  the  existence  of  the  resolution 
which  the  gentleman  read,  and 
has  now  repealed,  and  that  he 
relies  on  it,  as  his  authority.  I 
know  the  source  too,  from  which  it 
is  understood  to  have  proceeded. 
I  need  not  say,  that  I  have  much 
respect  for  the  constitutional  opin- 
ions of  Mr  Madison  ;  they  would 
weigh  greatly  with  me,  always. 
But  before  the  authority  of  his 
opinion  be  vouched  for  the  gentle- 
man's proposition,  it  will  be  proper 
to  consider  what  is  the  fair  inter- 
pretation of  that  resolution,  to 
which  Mr  Madison  is  understood 
to  have  given  his  sanction.  As 
the  gentleman  construes  it,  it  is  an 
authority  for  him.    Possibly,  he 
may  not  have  adopted  the  right 
construction.     That  resolution 
declares,  that  in  the  case  of  the 
dangerous  exercise  of  powers,  not 
granted  by  the  General  Govern- 
ment, the  States  may  interpose  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil. 
But  how  interpose,  and  what  does 
this  declaration  purport  ?  Does  it 
mean  no  more,  than  that  there 
may  be  extreme  cases,  in  which 
the  people,  in  any  mode  of  as- 
sembling, may  resist  usurpation, 
and  reUeve  themselves  from  a 
tyrannical  government  ?    No  one 
will  deny  this.    Such  resistance 
is  not  only  acknowledged  to  be 
just  in  America,  but  in  England 
also.  Blackstone  admits  as  much, 
in  the  theory  and  practice  too,  of 
the  English  constitution.  We, 
sir,  wlio  oppose  the  Carolina  doc- 
trine, do  not  deny,  tliat  the  people 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE, 


119 


may,  if  they  choose,  throw  off  any 
government,  when  it  becomes  op- 
pressive and  intolerable,  and  erect 
a  belter  in  its  stead.  We  all  know 
that  civil  institutions  are  established 
for  the  public  benefit,  and  that 
when  they  cease  to  answer  the 
ends  of  their  existence  they  may 
be  changed.  But  I  do  not  under- 
stand the  doctrine  now  contended 
for,  to  be  that  which,  for  the  sake 
of  distinctness,  we  may  call  the 
right  of  revolution.  I  understand 
the  gentleman  to  maintain,  that 
without  revolution,  without  civil 
commotion,  without  rebellion,  a 
remedy  for  supposed  abuse  and 
transgression  of  the  powers  of  the 
General  Government,  lies  in  a  di- 
rect appeal  to  the  interference  of 
the  State  Governments. 

[Mr  Hayne  here  rose  :  He  did 
not  contend,  he  said,  for  the  mere 
right  of  revolution,  but  for  the 
right  of  constitutional  resistance. 
What  he  maintained  was,  that  in 
case  of  a  plain,  palpable  violation 
of  the  Constitution  by  the  General 
Government,  a  State  may  inter- 
pose ;  and  that  this  interposition 
is  constitutional.]  Mr  Webster 
resumed  :  So  I  understood  the 
gentleman,  and  am  happy  to  find 
tliat  I  did  not  misunderstand  him. 
What  he  contends  for  is,  that  it  is 
constitutional  to  interrupt  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Constitution 
itself,  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
are  chosen  and  sworn  to  administer 
it,  by  the  direct  interference,  in 
form  of  law,  of  the  States,  in  vir- 
tue of  their  sovereign  capacity. 
The  inherent  right  in  the  people 
to  reform  their  government,  I  do 
not  deny  ;  and  they  have  another 
right,  and  that  is,  to  resist  uncon- 
stitutional laws,  without  overturn- 


ing the  government.  It  is  no 
doctrine  of  mine,  that  unconstitu- 
tionaljaws  bind  the  people.  The 
great  question  is,  whose  preroga- 
tive is  it  to  decide  on  the  constitu- 
tionality, or  unconstitutionality, 
of  the  laws  ?  I  admit,  that  there 
is  an  ultimate  violent  remedy, 
above  the  Constitution,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  Constitution,  which 
may  be  resorted  to  when  a  revo- 
lution is  to  be  justified.  But  I  do 
not  admit,  that  under  the  Consti- 
tution and  in  conformity  with  it, 
there  is  any  mode  in  which  a  State 
government,  as  a  member  of  the 
Union,  can  interfere  and  stop  the 
progress  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment, by  force  of  her  own  laws,  un- 
der any  circumstances  whatever. 

This  leads  us  to  inquire  into 
the  origin  of  this  government,  and 
the  source  of  its  power.  Whose 
agent  is  it  ?  Is  it  the  creature  of 
the  State  Legislatures,  or  the 
creature  of  the  People  ?  If  the 
Government  of  the  United  States 
be  the  agent  of  the  State  Govern- 
ments, then  they  may  control  it, 
provided  they  can  agree  in  the 
manner  of  controlling  it ;  if  it  is 
the  agent  of  the  People,  then  the 
People  alone  can  control  it,  re- 
strain it,  modify  or  reform  it.  It 
is  observable  enough,  that  the 
doctrine  for  which  the  honorable 
gentleman  contends,  leads  him  to 
the  necessity  of  maintaining,  not 
only  that  this  General  Government 
is  the  creature  of  the  States,  but 
that  it  is  the  creature  of  each 
of  the  States  severally  ;  so  that 
each  may  assert  the  power,  for 
itself,  of  determining  whether  it 
acts  within  the  limits  of  its  author- 
ity. It  is  the  servant  of  four 
and  twenty  masters,  of  differ- 


120 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


cut  wills  and  different  purposes ; 
and  yet  bound  to  obey  all.  This 
absurdity,  (for  it  seenns  no  less) 
arises  from  a  misconception  as  to 
the  origin  of  this  government  and 
its  true  character.  It  is,  sir,  the 
People's  Constitution,  the  Fco- 
]]Ie's  Government ;  made  for  ilie 
People;  made  by  the  People; 
nnd  answerable  to  the  People. 
The  People  of  the  United  States 
have  declared  that  this  Conslilution 
shall  be  the  supreme  law.  We 
must  either  admit  the  proposition, 
or  dispute  their  authority.  The 
States  are  unquestionably  sove- 
l  eign,  so  far  as  their  sovereignty 
is  not  affected  by  this  supreme 
law.  The  State  Legislatures,  as 
political  bodies,  however  sove- 
reign, are  yet  not  sovereign  over 
the  people.  So  far  as  the  People 
have  given  power  to  the  General 
Govennnent,  so  far  the  grant  is 
unquestionably  good,  and  the 
Government  holds  of  the  People, 
and  not  of  the  State  Governments. 
We  are  all  agents  of  the  same 
supreme  power,  the  People.  The 
General  Government  and  the 
State  Governments  derive  their 
authority  from  the  same  source. 
Neiilier  can,  in  relation  to  the  other, 
be  called  primary ;  though  one  is 
definite  and  restricted,  and  the 
other  general  and  residuary.  The 
National  Government  possesses 
those  powers  which  it  can  be 
shown  the  People  have  conferred 
on  it,  and  no  more.  All  the  rest 
belongs  to  the  State  Governments 
or  to  the  People  themselves.  So 
iar  as  the  People  have  restrained 
State  sovereignty,  by  the  expres- 
sion of  their  will,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  so  far, 
it  must  be  admitted,  State  sove- 


reignty is  effectually  controlled. 
I  do  not  contend  that  it  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  controlled  farther.  The 
sentiment  to  wliich  I  have  referred, 
propounds  that  State  sovereignty 
is  only  to  be  controlled  by  its  own 
'  feeling  of  justice  that  is  to  say, 
it  is  not  to  be  controlled  at  all ; 
for  one  who  is  to  follow  his  own 
feelings  is  under  no  legal  control. 
Now,  hovv'ever  men  may  think  this 
ought  to  be,  the  fact  is,  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  liave 
chosen  to  impose  control  on  State 
sovereignties.  The  Constitution 
has  ordered  the  matter  differently 
from  what  this  opinion  announces. 
To  make  war,  for  instance,  is  an 
exercise  of  sovereignty  ;  but  the 
Constitution  declares  that  no 
State  shall  make  war.  To  coin 
money  is  another  exercise  of  sove- 
reign power ;  but  no  State  is  at 
liberty  to  coin  money.  Again, 
the  Constitution  says,  that  no  sove- 
reign State  shall  be  so  sovereign 
as  to  make  a  treaty.  These  prohi- 
bitions, it  must  be  confessed,  are  a 
control  on  the  State  sovereignty 
of  South  Carolina,  as  well  as  of 
the  other  States,  which  does  not 
arise  '  from  her  own  feelings  of 
honorable  justice.'  Such  an 
opinion,  therefore,  is  in  defiance 
of  the  plainest  provisions  of  the 
Constitution. 

There  are  other  proceedings  of 
public  bodies  which  have  already 
been  alluded  to,  and  to  which  I 
refer  again  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  more  fully,  what  is 
the  length  and  breadth  of  that 
doctrine,  denominated  the  Caro- 
lina doctrine,  which  the  honorable 
member  has  now  stood  up  on  this 
floor  to  maintain.  In  one  of  them 
I  find  It  resolved,  that  'the  Tariff 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


121 


of  1828,  and  every  other  Tarift' 
designed  to  promote  one  branch 
of  industry,  at  the  expense  of 
others,  is  contrary  to  the  meaning 
and  intention  of  the  Federal  com- 
pact; and  as  such,  a  dangerous, 
palpable,  and  deliberate  usurpation 
of  power,  by  a  determined  major- 
ity, wielding  the  General  Govern- 
ment beyond  the  limits  of  its 
delegated  powers,  as  calls  upon 
the  States  which  compose  the 
suffering  minority  in  their  sove- 
reign capacity,  to  exercise  the  pow- 
ers which,  as  sovereigns,  necessa- 
rily devolve  upon  them,  when 
their  compact  is  violated.' 

Observe  that  this  resolution 
holds  the  Tariff  of  1828,  and 
every  other  Tariff,  designed  to 
promote  one  branch  of  industry 
at  the  expense  of  another,  to  be 
such  a  dangerous,  palpable,  and 
deliberate  usurpation  of  power,  as 
calls  upon  the  States,  in  their  sove- 
reign capacity,  to  interfere  by  their 
own  power.  Here  is  a  case,  then, 
within  the  gentleman's  principles, 
and'all  his  qualifications  of  his  prin- 
ciples. It  is  a  case  for  action. 
The  Constitution  is  plainly,  dan- 
gerously, palpably,  and  deliber- 
ately violated :  and  the  States 
must  interpose  their  own  authority 
to  arrest  the  law.  Let  us  suppose 
the  State  of  South  Carolina  to 
express  this  same  opinion,  by  the 
voice  of  her  Legislature.  That 
would  be  very  imposing,  but  v/hat 
then  ?  Is  the  voice  of  one  State 
conclusive?  It  so  happens,  that 
at  the  very  moment  when  South 
Carolina  resolves  that  the  tariff 
laws  are  unconstitutional,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Kentucky,  resolve 
exactly  the  reverse.  They  hold 
those  laws  to  be  both  highly  pro- 
11* 


per,  and  strictly  constitutional. 
And  now,  sir,  how  does  the  hon- 
orable member  propose  to  deal 
with  this  case  ?  How  does  he  get 
out  of  this  difficulty,  upon  any 
principle  of  his  ?  His  construction 
gets  us  into  it ;  how  does  he  pro- 
pose to  get  us  out? 

In  Carolina,  the  tariff  is  a  pal- 
pable, deliberate  usurpation  ;  Car- 
olina, therefore,  m^ij nullify  it,  anjd 
refuse  to  pay  the  duties.  In  Penn- 
sylvania, it  is  both  clearly  constitu- 
tional, and  highly  expedient ;  and 
there,  the  duties  are  to  be  paid. 
And  yet,  we  live  under  a  Govern- 
ment of  uniform  laws,  and  under  a 
Constitution,  too,  which  contains 
an  express  provision,  as  it  happens, 
that  all  duties  shall  be  equal  in  all 
the  States  !  Does  not  this  ap- 
proach absurdity? 

If  there  be  no  power  to  settle 
such  questions,  independent  of 
either  of  the  States,  is  not  the 
whole  Union  a  rope  of  sand  ? 
Are  we  not  thrown  back  again, 
precisely,  upon  the  old  Confeder- 
ation ? 

It  is  too  plain  to  be  argued. 
Four  and  twenty  interpreters  of 
constitutional  law,  each  with  a 
power  to  decide  for  itself,  and 
none  with  authority  to  bind  any- 
body else,  and  this  constitutional 
law,  the  only  bond  of  their  union  ! 
What  is  such  a  state  of  things,  but 
a  mere  connexion  during  pleasure, 
or,  to  use  the  phraseology  of  the 
times,  during  feeling  ?  And  that 
feeling,  too,  not  the  feeling  of  the 
people,  who  estabhshed  the  Con- 
stitution, but  the  feeling  of  the 
State  governments. 

In  another  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina addresses,  having  premised 
that  the  crisis  requires  '  all  the 


122 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


concentrated  energy  of  passion,' 
an  attitude  of  open  resistance  to 
the  laws  of  the  Union  is  advised. 
Open  resistance  lo  the  laws,  then, 
is  tlie  constitutional  remedy,  the 
conservative  power  of  the  State, 
which  the  South  Carolina  doc- 
trines teach  for  the  redress  of 
[political  evils,  real  or  imaginary. 
And  its  authors  further  say,  that, 
appealing  with  confidence  to  the 
Constitution  itself  to  justify  their 
opinions,  they  cannot  consent  to 
try  their  accuracy  hy  the  courts 
of  justice.  In  one  sense,  indeed, 
sir,  this  is  assuming  an  attitude  of 
open  resistance  in  favor  of  liberty. 
But  what  sort  of  liberty  ?  The 
liberty  of  establishing  their  own 
opinions,  in  defiance  of  the  opinions 
of  all  others  ;  the  liberty  of  judg- 
ing and  of  deciding  exclusively 
themselves,  in  a  matter  in  which 
others  have  as  much  right  to  judge 
and  decide  as  they  ;  the  liberty  of 
placing  their  own  opinions  above 
the  judgment  of  all  others,  above 
the  laws,  and  above  the  Constitu- 
tion. This  is  their  liberty,  and  this 
is  the  fair  result  of  the  proposition 
contended  for  by  the  honorable 
gentleman.  Or  it  may  be  more 
properly  said,  it  is  identical  with 
it,  rather  than  a  result  from  it. 
In  the  same  publication  we  find 
the  following :  '  Previously  to  our 
Revolution,  when  the  arm  of 
oppression  was  stretched  over 
New  England,  where  did  our 
northern  brethren  meet  with  a 
braver  sympathy  than  that  which 
sprung  from  the  bosom  of  Caro- 
linians. We  had  no  extortion,  no 
oppression,  no  collision  with  the 
King^s  ministers,  no  navigation 
interests  springing  up,  in  envious 
rivalry  of  England.' 

This  seems  extraordinary  lan- 


guage. South  Carolina  no  colli- 
sion with  the  King's  ministers,  in 
1775  !  no  extortion  !  no  oppres- 
sion !  But,  sir,  it  is  also  most 
significant  language.  Does  any 
man  doubt  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  penned  ?  Can  any  one  fail 
to  see  that  it  was  designed  to  raise 
in  the  reader's  mind  the  question, 
whether,  ai  this  time  —  that  is  to 
say,  in  1828  —  South  Carolina 
has  any  collision  with  the  King's 
ministers,  any  oppression  or  ex- 
tortion to  fear  from  England  ? 
Whether,  in  short,  England  is  not 
as  naturally  the  friend  of  South 
Carolina  as  New  England,  with 
her  navigation  interests  springing 
up  in  envious  rivalry  of  England  ? 

And  now,  sir,  what  I  have  first 
to  say  on  this  subject  is,  that  at  no 
time,  and  under  no  circumstances, 
has  New  England,  or  any  State 
in  New  England,  or  any  respecta- 
ble body  of  persons  in  New  Eng- 
land or  any  public  man  of  standing 
in  New  England,  put  forth  such  a 
doctrine  as  this  Carolina  doctrine. 

New  England  has  studied  the 
Constitution  in  other  schools,  and 
under  other  teachers.  She  looks 
upon  it  with  other  regards,  and 
deems  more  highly  and  reverently, 
both  of  its  just  authority,  and  its 
utility  and  excellence.  The  his- 
tory of  her  legislative  proceedings 
may  be  traced  —  the  ephemeral 
effusions  of  temporary  bodies, 
called  together  by  the  excitement 
of  the  occasion,  may  be  hunted  up 
—  they  have  been  hunted  up. 
The  opinions  and  votes  of  her 
public  men,  in  and  out  of  Congress 
may  be  explored  —  it  will  be  in 
vain.  The  Carolina  doctrine  can 
derive  from  her  neither  counte- 
nance nor  support.  She  rejects 
it  now  ;  she  always  did  reject  it ; 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


123 


and  till  she  loses  her  senses,  she 
always  will  reject  it.  The  honor- 
able member  has  referred  to  ex- 
pressions, on  the  subject  of  the 
embargo  law,  made  in  this  place, 
hy  an  honorable  and  venerable 
gentleman,  (Mr  Hillhoiise,)  now 
favoring  us  with  his  presence. 
He  quotes  that  distinguished  Sen- 
ator as  saying,  that  in  his  judgment 
the  embargo  law  was  unconstitu- 
tional, and  that,  therefore,  in  his 
opinion,the  people  were  not  hound 
to  obey  it.  That,  sir,  is  perfectly 
constitutional  language.  An  un- 
constitutional law  is  not  binding  ; 
hut  then  it  does  not  rest  with  a 
resohtiion  cr  a  law  of  a  State 
Legislature  to  decide  whether  an 
Act  of  Congress  be,  or  he  not 
constitutional.  An  unconstitu- 
tional act  of  Congress  would  not 
bind  the  people  of  this  district, 
although  they  have  no  legislature 
to  interfere  in  their  behalf ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  constitutional 
law  of  Congress  does  bind  the 
citizens  of  every  state,  although  al 
their  Legislatures  should  under- 
take to  annul  it,  by  act  or  resolution. 

Let  ns  follow  up  this  New 
England  opposition  to  the  embargo 
laws ;  let  us  trace  it,  till  we  dis- 
cern the  principle,  which  con- 
trolled and  governed  New  Eng- 
land, throughout  the  whole  course 
of  that  opposition.  We  shall  then 
see  what  similarity  there  is  be- 
tween the  New  England  school 
of  constitutional  opinions,  and 
this  modern  Carolina  school. 
The  gentleman,  I  think,  read  a 
petition  from  some  single  individ- 
ual, addressed  to  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  asserting  the 
Carolina  doctrine — that  is,  the 
right  of  State  interference  to  ar- 


rest the  laws  of  the  Union.  The 
fate  of  that  petition  shows  the  sen- 
timent of  the  Legislature.  It  met 
no  favor.  The  opinions  of  Mas- 
sachusetts were  otherwise.  They 
had  been  expressed,  in  1798,  in 
answer  to  the  resolutions  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  she  did  not  depart  froni 
them,  nor  bend  them  to  the  times» 
Misgoverned,  wronged,  oppressed 
as  she  felt  herself  to  be,  she  still 
held  fast  her  integrity  to  the 
Union.  The  gentleman  labors 
to  prove  that  she  disliked  the  em 
bargo,  as  much  as  South  Carolina 
dislikes  the  tariff,  and  expressed 
her  dislike  as  strongly.  Be  it  so  ; 
hut  did  she  propose  the  Carolina 
remedij  ?  did  she  threaten  to  in- 
terfere, hy  State  authority,  to  an- 
nul the  Laws  of  the  Union  ? 

The  very  case  required  by  the 
gentleman,  to  justify  State  inter- 
ference had  then  arisen.  Massa- 
chusetts beheved  this  law  to  be 
'  a  deliherate,  palpable,  and  dan- 
gerous exercise  of  a  poiver,  not 
granted  hy  the  Constitution,'' 
Deliberate  it  was,  for  it  was  long 
continued  ;  palpable  she  thought 
it,  as  no  words  in  the  Constitution 
gave  the  power,  and  only  a  con- 
struction, in  her  opinion  most  vio- 
lent, raised  it ;  dangerous  it  was, 
since  it  threatened  utter  ruin  to 
her  most  important  interests. 
Thousands  of  families,  and  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  individuals, 
were  beggared  by  it.  While  she 
saw  and  felt  all  this,  she  saw  and 
felt  also,  that  as  a  measure  of 
national  policy,  it  was  perfectly 
futile ;  that  the  country  was  no 
way  benefited  by  that  which 
caused  so  much  individual  dis- 
tress; that  it  was  efficient  only 
for  the  production  of  evil,  and  all 


124 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  evil  inflicted  on  ourselves. 
In  such  a  case,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, how  did  Massachu- 
setts demean  herself?  She  re- 
monstrated, she  memorialized, 
she  addressed  herself  to  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  not  exactly '  with 
the  concentrated  energy  of  pas- 
sion,' but  with  her  own  strong 
sense,  and  the  energy  of  sober 
conviction.  But  she  did  not  in- 
terpose the  arm  of  her  own  power 
to  arrest  the  law,  and  break  the 
embargo.  Far  from  it.  Her 
principles  bound  her  to  two  things; 
and  she  followed  her  principles, 
lead  where  they  might.  First,  to 
submit  to  every  constitutional  law 
of  Congress,  and  secondly,  if  the 
constitutional  validity  of  the  law 
be  doubted,  to  refer  that  question 
to  the  decision  of  the  proper  tri- 
bunals. The  first  principle  is  vain 
and  ineffectual  without  the  second. 
A  majority  of  us  in  New  England 
believed  the  embargo  law  uncon- 
stitutional ;  but  the  great  question 
was,  and  always  will  he,  in  such 
cases,  who  is  to  decide  this ; 
Who  is  to  judge  between  the  Peo- 
ple and  the  Government  ?  And, 
it  is  quite  plain,  that  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  confers 
on  the  Government  itself,  to  be 
exercised  by  its  appropriate  De- 
partment, this  power  of  deciding 
ultimately  and  conclusively,  upon 
the  just  extent  of  its  own  authority, 
if  this  had  not  been  done,  we 
should  not  ha:ve  advanced  a  single 
step  beyond  the  old  Confedera- 
tion. 

Being  fully  of  opinion  that  the 
embargo  law  was  unconstitutional, 
the  people  of  New  England  were 
yet  equally  clear  in  the  opinion 
—  it  was  a  matter  they  did  doubt 


upon — that  the  question,  after 
all,  must  be  decided  by  the  Judi- 
cial tribunals  of  the  United  States. 
Before  those  tribunals,  therefore, 
they  brought  the  question.  Un- 
der the  provisions  of  the  law,  they 
had  given  bonds,  to  millions  in 
amount,  and  which  were  alleged 
to  be  forfeited.  They  suffered 
the  bonds  to  be  sued,  and  thus 
raised  the  question.  In  the  old 
fashioned  way  of  settling  disputes, 
they  went  to  law.  The  case  came 
to  hearing,  and  solemn  argument. 
The  established  tribunals  pro- 
nounced the  law  constitutional 
and  New  England  acquiesced. 
Is  not  this  the  exact  opposite  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina  ^  Accord- 
ing to  him,  instead  of  referring  to 
the  judicial  tribunals,  we  should 
have  broken  up  the  embargo,  by 
laws  of  our  own  ;  we  should  have 
repealed  it,  ^'woac?  New  England  ; 
for  we  had  a  strong,  palpable,  and 
oppressive  case.  We  believed 
the  embargo  unconstitutional ;  but 
still,  that  was  matter  of  opinion, 
and  who  was  to  decide  it  ?  We 
thought  it  a  clear  case  ;  but,  never- 
theless, we  did  not  take  the  law 
into  our  own  hands,  because  we 
did  not  wish  to  bring  about  a 
revolution^  nor  to  break  up  the 
Union  ;  for  I  maintain,  that,  be- 
tween submission  to  the  decision 
of  the  constituted  tribunals,  and 
revolution,  or  disunion,  there  is 
no  middle  ground — there  is  no 
ambiguous  condition,  half  allegi- 
ance and  half  rebellion.  There 
is  no  treason  made  easy.  And, 
sir,  how  futile,  how  very  futile 
it  is,  to  admit  the  right  of  State 
interference,  and  then  attempt  to 
save  it  from  the  character  of  un- 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


125 


lawful  resistance,  by  adding  terms 
of  qualification  to  the  causes  and 
occasions,  leaving  all  these  quali- 
iications,  like  the  case  itself,  in 
the  discretion  of  the  State  Gov- 
ernments. It  must  be  a  clear 
case,  it  is  said  ;  a  deliberate  case  ; 
a  palpable  case  ;  a  dangerous 
case.  But  then  the  State  is  still 
left  at  liberty  to  decide  for  her- 
self, what  is  clear,  what  is  delib- 
erate, what  is  palpable,  what  is 
dangerous.  Do  adjectives  and 
epithets  avail  anything?  The 
liuman  mind  is  so  constituted, 
that  the  merits  of  both  sides  of  a 
controversy  appear  very  clear,  and 
very  palpable,  to  those  who  re- 
spectively espouse  them  ;  and 
both  sides  usually  grow  clearer, 
as  the  controversy  advances. 
South  Carolina  sees  unconstitu- 
tionality in  the  Tariff ;  she  sees 
oppression  there  also ;  and  she 
sees  danger.  Pennsylvania,  with 
a  vision  not  less  sharp,  looks  at 
the  same  Tariff,  and  sees  no  such 
thing  in  it  —  she  sees  it  ail  con- 
stitutional, all  useful,  all  safe. 
The  faith  of  South  Carolina  is 
strengthened  by  opposition,  and 
she  now  not  only  sees,  but  Re- 
solves, that  the  Tariff  is  palpably 
unconstitutional,  oppressive,  and 
dangerous ;  but  Pennsylvania,  not 
to  be  behind  her  neighbors,  and 
equally  willing  to  strengthen  her 
own  faith  by  a  confident  assevera- 
tion. Resolves  also,  and  gives  to 
every  warm  affirmative  of  South 
Carolina,  a  plain,  downright, 
Pennsylvania  negative.  South 
Carolina,  to  show  the  strength  and 
unity  of  her  opinion,  brings  her 
assembly  to  a  unanimity,  within 
seven  votes ;  Pennsylvania,  not 
to  be  out  done  in  this  respect  more 


than  others,  reduces  her  dissenti- 
ent fraction  to  five  votes.  Again 
I  ask  the  gentleman,  what  is  to 
be  done  ?  Are  these  States  both 
right  ?  Is  he  bound  to  consider 
them  both  right  ?  If  not,  which 
is  the  wrong  ?  or  rather,  which 
has  the  best  right  to  decide  ?  And 
if  he,  and  if  I,  are  not  to  know 
what  the  Constitution  means,  and 
what  it  is,  till  those  two  State  legis- 
latures, and  the  twentytwo  others, 
shall  agree  in  its  construction, 
what  have  we  sworn  to,  when  we 
have  sworn  to  maintain  it  ?  1  w^as 
forcibly  struck  with  one  reflection, 
as  the  gentleman  went  on  in  his 
speech.  He  quoted  Mr  Madi- 
son's resolutions  to  prove  that 
a  State  may  interfere,  in  a  case  of 
deliberate,  palpable,  and  danger- 
ous exercise  of  a  power  not 
granted.  The  honorable  member 
supposes  the  tariff  law  to  be  such 
an  exercise  of  power  ;  and  that, 
consequently,  a  case  has  arisen, 
in  which  the  State  may,  if  it  see 
fit,  interfere  by  its  own  law.  Now 
it  so  happens,  nevertheless,  that 
Mr  Madison  himself  deems  this 
same  Tariff  law  quite  constitu- 
tional. Instead  of  a  clear  and 
palpable  violation,  it  is,  in  his 
judgment,  no  violation  at  all.  So 
that,  while  they  use  his  authority 
for  a  hypothetical  case,  they  re- 
ject it  in  the  very  case  before 
them.  All  this,  shows  the  in- 
herent fuulity  —  I  had  al- 
most used  a  stronger  word  —  of 
conceding  this  power  of  inter- 
ference to  the  States,  and  then 
attempting  to  secure  it  from  abuse 
by  imposing  qualifications,  of 
which  the  States  themselves  are 
to  judge.  One  of  two  things  is 
true  ;  either  the  laws  of  the  Union 


\ 


1-26 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


p.re  beyond  the  discretion  and  be- 
yond the  control  of  the  States,  or 
else  we  have  no  Constitution  of 
General  Governn^ent,  and  are 
thrust  back  again  to  the  days  of 
the  Confederacy. 

Let  me  here  say,  that  if  the 
gentleman's  doctrine  had  been 
received  and  acted  upon  in  New 
England,  in  the  times  of  the  em- 
bargo and  non-intercourse,  we 
should  probably  not  now  have 
been  here.  The  Government 
would  very  likely  have  gone  to 
pieces  and  crumbled  into  dust. 
No  stronger  case  can  ever  arise 
than  existed  under  those  laws  ; 
no  States  can  ever  entertain  a 
clearer  conviction  than  the  New 
England  States  then  entertained  ; 
and  if  they  had  been  under  the 
influence  of  that  heresy  of  opinion, 
as  I  must  call  it,  which  the  hon- 
orable] member  espouses,  this 
Union  would,  in  all  probability, 
have  been  scattered  to  the  four 
winds.  I  ask  the  gentleman, 
therefore,  to  apply  his  principles 
to  that  case  ;  I  ask  him  to  come 
forth  and  declare,  whether,  in 
his  opinion,  the  New  England 
States  would  have  been  justified 
in  interfering  to  break  up  the  em- 
bargo system,  under  the  conscien- 
tious opinions  which  they  held 
upon  it  ?  Had  they  a  right  to  an- 
nul that  law  ?  Does  he  admit  or 
deny  ?  If  that  which  is  thought 
palpably  unconstitutional  in  South 
Carolina,  justifies  that  State  in 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  law, 
tell  me,  whether  that  which  was 
thought  palpably  unconstitutional 
also  in  Massachusetts,  would  have 
justified  her  in  doing  the  same 
thing.  I  deny  the  whole  doctrine. 
It  has  not  a  foot  of  ground  in  the 


Constitution  to  stand  on.  No 
public  man  of  reputation  ever 
advanced  it  in  Massachusetts,  in 
the  warmest  times,  or  could  main- 
tain himself  upon  it  there  at  any 
time. 

I  must  now  beg  to  ask,  whence 
is  this  supposed  right  of  the  States 
derived  ?  where  do  they  get  the 
power  to  interfere  with  the  laws 
of  the  Union  ?  The  opinion, 
whicii  the  honorable  gentleman 
maintains,  is  a  notion,  founded  in 
a  total  misapprehension,  in  my 
judgment,  of  the  origin  of  this 
Government,  and  of  the  founda- 
tion on  which  it  stands.  I  hold 
it  to  be  a  popular  Government, 
erected  by  the  People,  those  who 
administer  it  are  responsible  to  the 
People  ;  and  itself  capable,  of  be- 
ing amended  and  modified,  just 
as  the  People  may  choose  it  should 
be.  It  is  as  popular,  just  as  truly 
emanating  from  the  People,  as 
the  State  Governments.  It  is 
created  for  one  purpose  ;  the 
State  Governments  for  another. 
It  has  its  own  powers ;  they  have 
theirs.  There  is  no  more  author- 
ity with  them  to  arrest  the  oper- 
ation of  a  law  of  Congress,  than 
with  Congress  to  arrest  the  oper- 
ation of  their  laws.  We  are  here 
to  administer  a  Constitution  eman- 
ating immediately  from  the  Peo- 
ple, and  trusted,  by  them,  to  our 
administration.  It  is  not  the 
creature  of  the  State  Govern- 
ments. It  is  of  no  moment  to 
the  argument,  that  certain  acts  of 
the  State  Legislatures  arc  neces- 
sary to  fill  our  seats  in  this  body. 
That  is  not  one  of  their  original 
State  powers,  a  part  of  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  State.  It  is  a  duty 
which  the  People,  by  the  Con- 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


127 


slitution  itself,  have  imposed  on 
the  State  Legislatures ;  and  which 
they  might  have  left  to  be  per- 
formed elsewhere,  if  they  had 
seen  fit.  So  they  have  left  the 
choice  of  the  President  with  elect- 
ors ;  but  all  this  does  not  affect 
the  proposition,  that  this  whole 
Government,  President,  Senate, 
and  House  of  Representatives,  is 
a  popular  Government.  It  leaves 
it  still  all  its  popular  character. 
The  Governor  of  a  State,  (in 
some  of  the  States)  is  chosen, 
not  directly  by  the  People,  but 
by  those  who  are  chosen  by  the 
People,  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
forming among  other  duties,  that 
of  elecdng  a  Governor.  Is  the 
Government  of  the  State  on  that 
account,  not  a  popular  Govern- 
ment ?  This  Government  is  the 
independent  offspring  of  the  pop- 
ular will.  It  is  not  the  creature 
of  State  Legislatures  ;  nay  more, 
if  the  whole  truth  must  be  told, 
the  People  brought  it  into  exist- 
ence, established  it,  and  have 
hitherto  supported  it,  for  the  very 
purpose,  among  others,  of  im- 
posing certain  salutary  restraints 
on  State  sovereignties.  The  States 
cannot  now  make  war,  they  cannot 
contract  alliances,  they  cannot 
make,  each  for  itself,  separate  re- 
gulations of  commerce,  they  can- 
not lay  imposts,  they  cannot  coin 
money.  If  this  Constitution,  sir, 
be  the  creature  of  State  Legisla- 
tures, it  must  be  admitted  that  it 
has  obtained  a  strange  control  over 
the  volitions  of  its  creators. 

The  People  erected  this  Gov- 
ernment. They  gave  it  a  Con- 
stitution, and  in  that  Constitution 
they  have  enumerated  the  powers 
which  they  bestow  on  it.  They 
have  made  it  a  limited  Govern- 


ment. They  have  defined  its  au- 
thority. They  have  restrained  it, 
to  the  exercise  of  such  powers 
as  are  granted ;  and  all  others, 
they  declare,  are  reserved  to  the 
States  or  the  People.  But,  sir, 
they  have  not  stopped  here.  If 
they  had,  they  would  have  accom- 
plished but  half  their  work.  No 
definition  can  be  so  clear,  as  to 
avoid  possibility  of  doubt;  no 
limitation  so  precise,  as  to  exclude 
all  uncertainty.  Who,  then,  shall 
construe  this  grant  of  the  People  ? 
Who  shall  interpret  their  will, 
where  it  may  be  supposed  they 
have  left  it  doubtful  ^  With  whom 
do  they  leave  this  ultimate  right 
of  deciding  on  the  powers  of  the 
Government  ^  They  have  setded 
all  this  in  the  fullest  manner. 
They  have  left  it  with  the  Gov- 
ernment itself,  in  its  appropriate 
branches  Sir,  the  very  chief 
end,  the  main  design,  for  which 
the  whole  Constitution  was  framed 
and  adopted,  was  to  establish  a 
Government  that  should  not  be 
obliged  to  act  through  State  agen- 
cy, or  depend  on  State  opinion, 
and  State  discretion.  The  Peo- 
ple had  had  quite  enough  of  that 
kind  of  Government,  under  the 
Confederacy.  Under  that  sys- 
tem the  legal  action  —  the  appli- 
cation of  law  to  individuals,  be- 
longed exclusively  to  the  States. 
Congress  could  only  recommend 
—  their  acts  were  not  of  binding 
force,  till  the  States  had  adopted 
and  sanctioned  them.  Are  we 
in  that  condition  still  ^  Are  we 
yet  at  the  mercy  of  State  discre- 
tion, and  State  construction  }  Sir, 
if  we  are,  then  vain  will  be  our 
attempt  to  maintain  the  Constitu- 
tion under  which  we  sit. 

But  the  People  have  wisely 


128 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


provided,  in  the  Consdtution  it- 
self, a  proper,  suitable  mode,  and 
tribunal,  for  settling  questions  of 
Constitutional  law.  There  are, 
in  the  Constitution,  grants  of 
powers  to  Congress ;  and  restric- 
tions on  these  powers.  There  are 
also  prohibitions  on  the  States. 
Some  authority  must  therefore 
necessarily  exist,  having  the  ul- 
timate jurisdiction  to  fix  and  as- 
certain the  interpretation  of  these 
grants,  restrictions,  and  prohibi- 
tions. The  Constitution  has  it- 
self pointed  out,  ordained,  and 
established  that  authority.  How 
has  it  accomplished  this  great  and 
essential  end?  By  declaring, 
that  '  the  Constitution  and  the 
Jaws  of  the  United  States,  made 
in,  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  anything 
in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of 
any  State  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing,'' 

Tliis,  sir,  was  the  first  great 
step.  By  this,  the  supremacy  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States  is  declared.  The 
People  so  will  it.  No  State  law 
is  to  be  valid,  which  comes  in 
conflict  with  the  Constitution,  or 
any  law  of  the  United  States. 
But  who  shall  decide  this  ques- 
tion of  interference  ?  To  whom 
lies  the  last  appeal?  This,  sir, 
the  Constitution  itself  decides, 
also,  by  declaring, '  that  the  Ju- 
dicial power  shall  extend  to  all 
cases  arising  under  the  Constitu- 
tion and  Laws  of  the  United 
States.^  These  two  provisions 
cover  the  whole  ground.  They 
are,  in  truth,  the  key-stone  of  the 
arch.  With  these,  it  is  a  Consti- 
tution, without  them,  it  is  a  Con- 
federacy.   In  pursuance  of  these 


clear  and  express  provisions, 
Congress  established,  at  its  very 
first  session,  in  the  Judicial  act, 
a  mode  for  carrying  them  into  full 
effect,  and  for  bringing  all  ques- 
tions of  Constitutional  power  to 
the  final  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  It  then  became  a  Gov- 
ernment. It  then  had  the  means 
of  self-protection ;  and  but  for 
this,  it  would,  in  all  probability, 
have  been  now  among  things 
which  are  past.  Having  consti- 
tuted the  Government,  and  de- 
clared its  powers,  the  People  have 
further  said,  that  since  somebody 
must  decide  on  the  extent  of 
these  powers,  the  Government 
shall  itself  decide  ;  subject  al- 
\^ays,  like  other  popular  Govern- 
ments, to  its  responsibility  to  the 
People.  And  now  I  repeat,  how 
is  it,  that  a  State  legislature  ac- 
quires any  right  to  interfere? 
Who,  or  what,  gives  them  the 
right  to  say  to  the  People,  we, 
who  are  your  agents  and  servants 
for  one  purpose,  will  undertake  to 
decide,  that  your  other  agents 
and  servants,  appointed  by  you 
for  another  purpose,  have  tran- 
scended the  authority  you  gave 
them  ?  The  reply  would  be,  1 
think  not  impertinent  —  'Who 
made  you  a  judge  over  another's 
servants  ?  To  their  own  masters 
they  stand  or  fall.' 

I  deny  this  power  of  State  le- 
gislatures altogether.  It  cannot 
stand  the  test  of  examination. 
Gentlemen  may  say,  that  in  an 
extreme  case,  a  State  Govern- 
ment might  protect  the  People 
from  intolerable  oppression.  In 
such  a  case  the  People  might 
protect  themselves,  without  the 
aid  of  the  State  Governments. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


129 


Such  a  case  warrants  revolution. 
It  must  make,  when  it  comes,  a 
law  for  itself.  A  nullifying  act  of 
a  State  legislature  cannot  alter  the 
case,  nor  make  resistance  any 
more  lawful.  In  maintaining 
these  sentiments,  I  am  but  assert- 
ing the  rights  of  the  people.  I 
state  what  they  have  declared, 
and  insist  on  their  right  to  declare 
it.  They  have  chosen  to  repose 
this  power  in  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, and  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  support  it,  like  other  constitu- 
tional powers. 

For  myself,  I  doubt  the  juris- 
tliction  of  South  Carolina,  or  any 
other  State,  to  prescribe  my  con- 
stitutional duty,  or  to  settle,  be- 
tween me  and  the  people,  the 
validity  of  laws  of  Congress,  for 
which  I  have  voted.  1  decline 
her  umpirage.  I  have  not  sworn 
to  support  the  Constitution  accord- 
ing to  her  construction  of  its  clau- 
ses. I  have  not  stipulated,  by 
my  oath  of  office  or  otherwise,  to 
come  under  any  responsibility, 
except  to  the  People,  and  those 
whom  they  have  appointed  to  pass 
upon  the  question,  whether  laws, 
supported  by  my  votes,  conform 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  country. 
And  if  we  look  to  the  general 
nature  of  the  case,  could  anything 
have  been  more  preposterous, 
than  to  have  made  a  Government 
for  the  whole  Union,  and  yet  left 
its  powers  subject,  not  to  .  one 
interpretation,  but  to  thirteen, 
or  twentyfour  interpretations? 
Instead  of  one  tribunal,  established 
by  all,  responsible  to  all,  whh 
power  to  decide  for  all,  shall 
constitutional  questions  be  left  to 
four  and  twenty  popular  bodies, 
each  at  liberty  to  decide  for  itself, 
12 


and  none  bound  to  respect  the 
decisions  of  others  ;  and  each  at 
liberty,  too,  to  give  a  new  con- 
struction, on  every  new  election 
of  its  own  members?  Would 
anything,  with  such  a  principle 
in  it,  or  rather  with  such  a 
destitution  of  all  principle,  be 
fit  to  be  called  a  government  ? 
No,  sir.  It  should  not  be  denom- 
inated a  Constitution.  It  should 
be  called,  rather,  a  collection  of 
topics  for  everlasting  controversy  ; 
heads  of  debate,  for  a  disputatious 
people.  It  would  not  be  a  Gov- 
ernment. It  would  not  be  ade- 
quate to  any  practical  good,  not 
fit  for  any  country  to  live  under. 
To  avoid  all  possibility  of  being 
misunderstood,  allow  me  to  repeat 
again,  in  the  fullest  manner,  that  I 
claim  no  powers  for  the  Govern- 
ment by  forced  or  unfair  construc- 
tion. I  admit  that  it  is  a^Govern- 
ment  of  strictly  limited  powers  ; 
of  enumerated,  specified,  and 
particularized  powers ;  and  that 
whatsoever  is  not  granted,  is  with- 
held. But  notwithstanding  all  this, 
and  however  the  grant  of  powers 
may  be  expressed,  its  limit  and 
extent  may  yet,  in  some  cases, 
admit  of  doubt ;  and  the  General 
Government  would  be  good  for 
nothing,  it  would  be  incapable  of 
long  existing,  if  some  mode  had 
not  been  provided,  in  which  those 
doubts,  as  they  should  arise, 
might  be  peaceably,  but  authorita- 
tively, solved. 

Direct  collision,  between  force 
and  force,  is  the  unavoidable 
result  of  that  remedy  for  the  re- 
vision of  unconstitutional  laws 
which  the  gentleman  contends  for. 
It  must  happen  in  the  very  first 
case  to  which  it  is  applied.  Is 


130  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


not  this  the  plain  result  ?  To  resist, 
by  force,  the  execution  of  a  law 
generally,  is  treason.  Can  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  take 
notice  of  the  indulgence  of  a  State 
to  commit  treason  ?  The  com- 
mon saying,  that  a  State  cannot 
commit  treason  herself  is  nothing 
to  the  purpose.  Can  it  authorize 
others  to  do  it  ?  If  John  Fries 
had  produced  an  act  of  Penn- 
sylvania, annulling  the  law  of 
Congress,  would  it  have  helped 
his  case  ?  Talk  about  it  as  we 
will,  these  doctrines  go  the  length 
of  revolution.  They  are  incom- 
patible with  any  peaceable  admin- 
istration of  the  Government. 
They  lead  directly  to  disunion 
and  civil  commotion  ;  and  there- 
fore it  is,  that  at  their  commence- 
ment, when  they  are  first  found 
to  be  maintained  by  respectable 
men,  and  in  a  tangible  form,  that 
I  enter  my  public  protest  against 
them  all. 

The  honorable  gentleman  ar- 
gues, that  if  this  Government  be 
the  sole  judge  of  the  extent  of  its 
own  powers,  whether  that  right 
of  judging  be  in  Congress,  or  the 
Supreme  Court,  it  equally  sub- 
verts State  sovereignty.  This 
the  gendeman  sees,  or  thinks  he 
sees,  although  he  cannot  perceive 
how  the  right  of  judging,  in  this 
matter,  if  left  to  the  exercise  of 
State  Legislatures,  has  any  ten- 
dency to  subvert  the  Government 
of  the  Union.  The  gentleman's 
opinion  may  be  that  the  right 
ought  not  to  have  been  lodged 
with  the  General  Government; 
he  may  like  better  such  a  Consti- 
tution, as  we  should  have  under 
the  right  of  State  interference  ; 
but  1  ask  him  to  meet  me  on  the 


plain  matter  of  fact  —  I  ask  him 
to  meet  me  on  the  Constitution 
itself — I  ask  him  if  the  power  is 
not  found  there  —  clearly  and  visi- 
bly found  there  ? 

But  what  is  this  danger,  and 
what  the  grounds  of  it  ?  Let  it 
be  remembered,  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  is  not 
unalterable.  It  is  to  continue  in 
its  present  form  no  longer  than 
the  People  who  established  it  shall 
choose  to  continue  it.  If  they 
shall  become  convinced  that  they 
have  made  an  injudicious  or  in- 
expedient partition  and  distribu- 
tion of  power,  between  the  State 
Governments  and  the  General 
Government,  they  can  alter  that 
distribution  at  will. 

If  anything  be  found  in  the 
National  Constitution,  either  by 
original  provision,  or  subsequent 
interpretation,  which  ought  not 
to  be  in  it.  the  people  know  how 
to  get  rid  of  it.  If  any  construc- 
tion be  established,  unacceptable 
to  them,  so  as  to  become,  practi- 
cally, a  part  of  the  Constitution, 
they  will  amend  it  at  their  own 
sovereign  pleasure.  But  while 
the  people  choose  to  maintain  it 
as  it  is ;  while  they  are  satisfied 
with  it  and  refuse  to  change  it, 
who  has  given,  or  who  can  give, 
to  the  State  Legislatures,  a  right 
to  alter  it,  either  by  interference, 
construction,  or  otherwise  ?  Gen- 
tlemen do  not  seem  to  recollect 
that  the  people  have  any  power 
to  do  anything  for  themselves ; 
they  imagine  there  is  no  safety 
for  them,  any  longer  than  they 
are  under  the  close  guardianship 
of  the  State  Legislatures.  The 
people  have  not  trusted  their 
safety,  in  regard  to  the  General 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


131 


constitution,  to  these  hands. 
They  have  required  other  secu- 
rity, and  taken  other  bonds.  They 
have  chosen  to  trust  themselves 
first,  to  the  plain  words  of  the  in- 
strument, and  to  such  construction 
as  the  Government  itself,  in  doubt- 
ful cases,  should  put  on  its  own 
powers,  under  their  oaths  of  office, 
and  subject  to  their  responsibility 
to  them ;  just  as  the  people  of  a 
State  trust  their  own  State 
Governments  with  a  similar 
power.  Secondly,  they  have 
reposed  their  trust  in  the  efficacy 
of  frequent  elections,  and  in 
their  own  power  to  remove  their 
own  servants  and  agents,  when- 
ever they  see  cause.  Thirdly, 
they  have  reposed  trust  in  the 
judicial  power,  which,  in  order 
that  it  might  be  trustworthy,  they 
have  made  as  respectable,  as 
disinterested,  and  as  independent, 
as  was  practicable.  Fourthly, 
they  have  seen  fit  to  rely,  in  case 
of  necessity,  or  high  expediency, 
on  their  known  and  admitted 
power,  to  alter  or  amend  the 
Constitution,  peaceably  and  quiet- 
ly, whenever  experience  shall 
point  out  defects  or  imperfections. 
And,  finally,  the  People  of  the 
United  States  have,  at  no  time, 
in  no  way,  directly  or  indirectly, 
authorized  any  State  Legislature 
to  construe  or  interpret  their  high 
instrument  of  government ;  much 
less  to  interfere,  by  their  own 
power,  to  arrest  its  course  and  op- 
eration. 

If  the  people,  in  these  respects, 
had  done  otherwise  than  they 
have  done,  their  Constitution  could 
neither  have  been  preserved,  nor 
would  it  have  been  worth  preserv- 
ing. And  if  its  plain  provisions 
shall  now  be  disregarded,  and 


these  new  doctrines  interpolated 
in  it,  it  will  become  as  feeble  and 
helpless  a  being  as  its  enemies, 
whether  early  or  more  recent, 
could  possibly  desire.  It  will 
exist  in  every  State,  but  as  a  poor  ' 
dependent  or  State  permission. 
It  must  borrow  leave  to  be,  and 
will  be,  no  longer  than  State  plea- 
sure, or  State  discretion,  sees  fit 
to  grant  the  indulgence,  and  to 
prolong  its  poor  existence. 

But  although  there  are  fears, 
there  are  hopes  also.  The  people 
have  preserved  this,  their  own 
chosen  Constitution,  for  forty 
years,  and  have  seen  their  happi- 
ness, prosperity  and  renown,  grow 
with  its  growth,  and  strengthen 
with  its  strength.  They  are  now, 
generally,  strongly  attached  to  it. 
Overthrown  by  direct  assault,  it 
cannot  be  ;  evaded,  undermined, 
NULLIFIED,  it  will  not  be,  if  we, 
and  those  who  shall  succeed  us 
here,  as  agents  and  representatives 
of  the  people,  shall  conscientiously 
and  vigilantly  discharge  the  two 
great  branches  of  our  public  trust 
—  faithfully  to  preserve,  and  wise- 
ly to  administer  it. 

Mr  President,  I  have  thus  stated 
the  reasons  of  my  dissent  to  the 
doctrines  which  have  been  advanc- 
ed and  maintained.  I  am  con- 
scious of  having  detained  you,  and 
the  Senate,  much  too  long.  1  was 
drawn  into  the  debate,  with  no 
previous  deliberation,  such  as  is 
suited  to  the  discussion  of  so  grave 
and  important  a  subject.  But  it 
is  a  subject  of  which  my  heart  is 
full,  and  I  have  not  been  willing 
to  suppress  the  utterance  of  its 
spontaneous  sentiments.  I  cannot 
even  now,  persuade  myself  to 
relinquish  it,  without  expressing, 
once  more,  my  deep  convictioa 


m 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  since  it  respects  nothing;  less 
than  the  Union  of  the  States,  it  is 
of  most  vital  and  essential  impor- 
tance to  the  public  happiness.  I 
profess,  sir,  in  my  career  hitherto, 
to  have  kept  steadily  in  view  the 
prosperity  and  honor  of  the  whole 
•country,  and  the  preservation  of 
our  Federal  Union.  It  is  to  that 
Union  we  owe  our  safety  at  home, 
and  our  consideration  and  dignity 
abroad.  It  is  to  that  Union  that 
we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  what- 
ever makes  us  most  proud  of  our 
country.  That  Union  we  reached, 
only  by  the  disciphne  of  our  vir- 
tues, in  the  severe  school  of  ad- 
versity. It  had  its  origin  in  the 
necessities  of  disordered  finance, 
prostrate  commerce,  and  ruined 
credit.  Under  its  benign  influen- 
ces, these  great  interests  immedi- 
ately awoke,  as  from  the  dead, 
and  sprang  forth  with  newness  of 
life.  Every  year  of  its  duration 
has  teemed  widi  fresh  proofs  of  its 
utility  and  its  blessings ;  and 
although  our  territory  has  stretch- 
ed out  wider  and  wider,  and  our 
population  spread  farther  and 
farther,  they  have  not  outrun  its 
protection,  or  its  benefits.  It  has 
been  to  us  all  a  copious  fountain 
of  national,  social,  and  personal 
happiness.  I  have  not  allowed 
myself,  sir,  to  look  beyond  the 
Union,  to  see  what  might  lie  hid- 
den in  the  dark  recess  behind. 
I  have  not  coolly  weighed  the 
chances  of  preserving  liberty, 
when  the  bonds  that  nnhe  us 
together  shall  be  broken  asunder. 
I  have  not  accustomed  myself  to 
hang  over  the  precipice  of  disunion, 
to  see  whether,  with  my  short 
sight,  I  can  fathom  the  depth  of 
the  abyss  below;  nor  could  1 
gard  him  as  a  safe  counsellor  in 


the  affairs  of  this  Government, 
whose  thoughts  should  be  mainly 
bent  on  considering,  not  how  the 
Union  should  be  best  preserved, 
but  how  tolerable  might  be  the 
condition  of  the  people  when  it 
shall  be  broken  up  and  destroyed. 
While  the  Union  lasts,  we  have 
high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects 
spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and 
our  children.  Beyond  that,  I  seek 
not  to  ))enetrate  the  veil.  God 
grant,  that  in  my  day,  at  least, 
that  curtain  may  not  rise.  God 
grant,  that  on  my  vision  neves 
may  be  opened  what  lies  behind. 
When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to 
behold,  for  the  last  time,  the  Sun 
in  Heaven,  may  1  not  see  hitn 
shining  on  the  broken  and  dishon- 
ored fragments  of  a  once  glorious 
Union ;  on  States  dissevered,  dis- 
cordant, belligerent  ;  on  a  land 
rent  with  civil  feuds,  or  drenched, 
it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood  ! 
Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering 
glance,  rather,  behold  the  gor- 
geous Ensign  of  the  Republic,  now 
known  and  honored  throughout 
the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced, 
its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in 
their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe 
erased  or  polluted,  nor  a  single 
star  obscured  —  bearing  for  its 
motto,  no  such  miserable  interro- 
gatory as —  What  is  all  this 
worth  ?  Nor  those  other  words 
of  delusion  and  folly  —  Liberty 
first,  and  Union  afterwards  —  but 
everywhere,  spread  all  over  in 
characters  of  living  light,  blazing 
^n  all  its  ample  folds,  as  they  float 
over  the  sea  and  over  the  land, 
and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole 
heavens,  that  other  sentiment,  dear 
to  every  true  American  heart  — 
Liberty  and  L^nion,  now  and  for 
ever,  one  and  inseparable ! 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


The  effect  of  this  sp-eech 
througliout  the  Union  was  de- 
structive to  the  hopes  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  nullification.  They 
had  been  gradually  gaining 
strength  owing  in  a  great  measure 
to  the  inattention  of  the  public  to 
the  pernicious  consequences  of 
their  doctrines.  In  Georgia,  they 
formed  a  majority,  had  carried 
their  principles  into  practical  ef- 
fect, and  their  doctrines  had  re- 
ceived the  implied  sanction  of  the 
President  in  reference  to  the  In- 
dian question.  In  South  Carolina 
and  Virginia,  they  constituted  a 
majority  of  the  legislatures,  and 
in  New  York  an  obvious  leaning 
towards  the  same  principles  was 
manifested  by  the  dominant  party 
under  the  specious  pretence  of 
attachment  to  State  rights. 

Public  opinion  however  was 
now  fully  awakened.  The  warm 
and  patriotic  language  of  the  Sen- 
ator from  Massachusetts  met  with 
a  ready  response  from  the  Ameri- 
can people.  They  felt  the  Union 
to  be  in  danger  from  the  move- 
ments of  this  anti-federal  party 
and  they  evinced  their  attachment 
to  the  Constitution  by  the  warmest 
approbation  of  the  sentiments  ad- 
vanced by  Mr  Webster.  These 
unequivocal  testimonies  of  popular 
feeling  checked  the  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  leading  politicians 
to  nullification,  and  they  began  to 
retrace  their  steps. 

The  Debate  in  the  Senate  anni- 
hilated the  party  by  demonstrating 
the  utter  inconsistency  of  their 
opinions  with  the  peaceful  and 
legal  administration  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Mr  Hayne,  upon  Mr 
Webster's  resuming  his  seat,  at- 
tempted a  reply,  which  in  sub- 
stance is  as  follows. 
12* 


After  commenting  on  the  per- 
sonal topics  introduced  into  the 
debate,  Mr  Hayne  proceeded  to 
deny  that  the  tarifi'of  1816,  was 
the  commencement  of  the  ex- 
isting policy.  It  was  a  bill  for 
reducing  the  duties  from  the  war 
standard,  and  it  was  intended  that 
the  reduction  should  be  gradual, 
until  they  should  reach  the  lowest 
amount  necessary  for  revenue  in 
time  of  peace.  i\'or  did  this  bill  de- 
pend upon  South  Carolina  votes. 
It  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  88  to 
58,  and  would  have  passed  if 
every  representative  from  South 
Carolina  had  voted  against  it. 

The  internal  improvement  bill 
referred  to,  was  one  not  appro- 
priating but  setting  apart  a  fixed 
sum  (the  bank  bonus)  for  internal 
improvements  to  be  distributed 
among  the  States  on  principles  of 
perfect  equality. 

This  measure  was  defeated  by 
the  veto  of  Mr  Madison,  but  if 
it  had  been  adopted,  it  would  have 
prevented  much  of  the  inequality 
and  injustice,  that  have  since  taken 
place.  Mr  Hayne  said  that  a 
great  change  of  opinion,  however, 
had  since  occurred  in  the  South- 
ern States  on  the  subject  of  inter- 
nal improvement.  The  war  had 
produced  a  feeling  in  favor  of  en- 
larging the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government,  but  before  timeiiad 
confirmed  that  opinion,  the  evils 
of  the  system  were  so  fully  de- 
veloped and  the  dangers  from 
that  source  so  manifest,  as  to 
thoroughly  convince  them  that 
the  system  of  internal  improve- 
ment was  not  only  unequal  and 
unjust,  but  an  alarming  innovation 
on  the  Constitution.  He  thanked 
Mr  Webster  for  having  given  him 
an  opportunity  of  explaining  his 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


vote  on  ihe  survey  bill  of  1824. 
He  was  llien  n-ew  in  his  seat  and 
his  opinions  on  this  point  were 
not  fully  settled.  That  bill  was 
advocated  on  the  ground  that  be- 
fore adopting  any  system,  it  was 
proper  to  have  the  whole  ground 
before  Congress.  In  the  belief 
that  no  great  work  would  be 
adopted  until  all  the  information 
was  procured  and  submitted  by 
the  President  in  one  complete 
view,  and  that  but  a  (ew  great 
works  in  which  all  the  States  had 
a  common  interest  were  intended 
to  be  embraced  in  the  bill,  he 
voted  for  it  and  he  also  voted 
against  every  proposition  to 
amend  it,  in  order  to  have  the  sub- 
ject before  the  public,  unembar- 
rassed and  as  an  entire  scheme. 
In  this  expectation  he  had  been 
deceived  and  ever  since  he  had 
discovered  its  true  character,  he 
had  voted  against  all  appropria- 
tions for  surveys,  unless  they  were 
exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 

After  explaining  the  motives  of 
the  opponents  ofthetarifFof  1828, 
in  refusing  to  strike  out  some  of 
its  obnoxious  provisions,  Mr 
Hayne  entered  upon  that  part  of 
his  argument  relating  to  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  and  the  powers 
of  the  Supreme  Courts.  He 
said  that  he  had  indeed  depre- 
cated the  consohdation  of  the 
Government,  but  he  had  con- 
tented himself  with  citing  the 
high  authorities  on  which  his 
opinions  rested .  The  proposition 
laid  down  by  him,  was  taken  from 
the  Virginia  resolution  of  1798, 
and  stated  that  '  in  a  deliberate, 
palpable  and  dangerous  exercise 
by  the  Federal  Government  of 
powers  not  granted  by  the  com- 


pact, the  States,  who  are  parlies 
thereto  had  a  right  to  interpose  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil, 
and  to  maintain  within  their  re- 
spective limits  the  authorities, 
rights  and  hberties  appertaining 
to  them.' 

The  Senator  from  Massachu- 
setts contended  that  the  States 
liad  no  riglit  to  decide,  whether 
the  Constitution  had  been  violated 
or  not,  and  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment was  the  exclusive  judge 
of  its  own  powers.  That  the  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme  Court  was 
final  on  the  point  in  dispute. 
These  are  the  points  of  difference 
between  us,  and  in  order  to  de- 
cide them  it  will  be  necessary  to 
go  back  to  the  origin  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

Mr  Hayne  asserted  that  be- 
fore the  formation  of  the  Consti- 
tution, each  State  was  an  inde- 
pendent sovereignty,  and  after- 
wards they  remained  equally  in- 
dependent as  to  all  powers  not 
expressly  delegated  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government.  This  was  de- 
clared in  the  tenth  article  of  the 
amendments  to  the  Constitution. 
Its  true  nature  therefore  was  a 
compact  to  which  the  States  are 
parties,  agreeing  that  certain  de- 
signated powers  shall  be  exercised 
by  the  United  States  in  the  man- 
ner prescribed  in  that  instrument. 
All  acts  therefore  by  the  Federal 
Government  beyond  the  pale  of 
its  authority  are  clearly  void.  A 
State,  on  the  contrary,  may  law- 
fully act  in  all  cases  where  she 
has  not  restricted  herself.  It  is  a 
compact  between  sovereigns, and 
the  question  arises  as  to  the  re- 
medy for  a  clear  violation  of  its 
terms  by  one  of  the  parties.  Mr 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


135 


Hayne  contended  tlicit  no  power 
of  deciding  upon  the  extent  of 
its  own  autiiority,  had  been  grant- 
ed to  the  Federal  Government 
and  no  inference  in  favor  of  such 
power,  could  be  drawn,  which 
would  not  apply  with  equal  force 
in  behalf  of  a  State. 

All  sovereigns  were  necessarily 
equal,  and  the  rule  applicable  to  a 
difference  of  opinion  concerning 
treaties,  was  applicable  to  that 
concerning  the  Federal  compact. 
The  Federal  Government  was 
not  superior  to  the  State  Gov- 
ernments, nor  had  the  latter  sur- 
rendered their  sovereignty. 

They  had  surrendered  certain 
specified  powers,  but  they  had  an 
independent  legislature,  executive 
and  judiciary,  and  in  all  other  re- 
spects they  were  as  omnipotent  as 
any  other  independent  nation.  He 
denied  that  the  words  in  the  pre- 
amble to  the  Constitution  *  we  the 
people  of  the  United  States,' 
referred  to  them  as  to  one  com- 
munity. It  related  to  them  only 
as  citizens  of  the  several  States. 
In  every  part  of  the  instrument 
they  are  spoken  of  in  that  char- 
acter, and  when  every  State  but 
one  had  consented  to  its  adoption, 
that  State  was  not  held  to  be 
bound.  A  majority  of  the  people 
in  any  one  State  bound  that  State, 
but  nine  tenths  of  all  the  people 
of  the  United  States  did  not  bind 
Rhode  Island,  until  as  a  State 
she  had  consented  to  the  com- 
pact. 

The  States  were  at  the  time 
of  forming  the  Constitution,  under 
organized  governments,  and  if 
their  citizens  became  entitled  to 
the  character  of  citizens  of  other 
States,  it  was  by  virtue  of  that 


clause  in  the  Constitution  confer- 
ring upon  them  such  privileges. 
After  quoting  from  Mr  Madison's 
report  to  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia  to  prove  that  the  States 
are  parties  to  the  compact,  Mr 
Hayne  asserted  that  in  a  com- 
pact between  sovereign  powers, 
such  as  the  Constitution,  there 
could  be  no  tribunal  to  decide 
upon  its  violation^  The  Supreme 
Court  was  not  such  a  tribunal, 
when  the  dispute  arose  between 
a  State  and  the  United  States. 
No  such  authority  was  given  in 
the  Constitution.  Questions  of 
sovereignty  were  of  too  delicate 
a  nature  to  be  submitted  to  a  Ju- 
dicial tribunal.  Courts  were  the 
mere  creatures  of  the  sovereign 
power,  and  though  they  w^ere 
competent  to  decide  upon  inci- 
dental questions  growing  out  of 
treaties,  they  were  not  the  proper 
tribunals  to  decide  upon  the  con- 
struction to  be  put  by  sovereigns 
upon  their  treaties.  These  are 
political,  not  judicial,  questions, 
and  the  jurisdiction  given  by  the 
Government  to  the  Federal  Courts 
is  expressly  limited  to  all  ques- 
tions in  law  and  equity ;  i.  e.  to 
cases  where  jurisdiction  is  inci- 
dentally acquired  in  the  ordinary 
administration  of  justice.  The 
Supreme  Court  has  never  as- 
sumed jurisdiction  over  ques- 
tions arising  under  treaties  be- 
tween the  sovereign  parties  there- 
to, nor  can  it  under  the  Con- 
stitution, over  questions  be- 
tween individual  States  and  the 
United  States.  It  is  entirely  with- 
out its  sphere.  Besides,  it  is  un- 
fitted for  the  office  by  being  en- 
tirely dependent  on  one  of  the 
parties,  i.  e.  the  Federal  Govern- 


136 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


-ment.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that 
the  States  could  ever  have  de- 
-signed  to  leave  to  a  court  to  be 
created  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment the  right  to  decide  on  the 
extent  of  its  powers.  Such  a 
course  would  have  been  suici- 
dal and  destructive  to  their  in- 
dependence. 

After  illustranng  the  positions, 
Mr  H.  proceeded  to  show  that 
Congress  could  not  be  the  proper 
judge  of  its  own  constitutional 
powers,  and  that  the  Constitution 
was  framed  chiefly  with  the  de- 
sign of  confining  the  majority 
within  definite  limits.  Mr  Hayne 
inferred  from  these  premises  that 
the  right  of  a  State  to  judge  of 
infractions  of  the  Constitution  on 
ihe  part  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, resuhed  from  the  nature  of 
the  compact,  and  that  such  a  pow- 
er is  neither  expressedly  nor  im- 
pliedly reserved  exclusively  to 
the  Federal  Government,  nor  to 
any  of  its  departments. 

He  also  contended,  that  the 
power  in  question  might  be  fairly 
considered  as  reserved  to  the 
States,  by  that  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution, providing  that  all  powers 
not  delegated  to  the  United  States 
are  reserved  to  the  States  respec- 
tively or  to  the  people.  Before 
the  States  entered  into  the  com- 
pact, (he  said)  they  possessed  to 
tbe  fullest  extent,  the  right  of  de- 
termining the  limits  of  their  own 
powers. 

They  had  never  parted  with 
that  right,  nor  agreed  to  limit  or 
restrict  it.  They  had  agreed  that 
certain  specific  powers  should  be 
exercised  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment ;  but  the  moment  that 
Government  stepped  beyond  its 


charter,  the  right  of  the  States  to 
interpose,  was  as  full  and  com- 
plete as  before  the  Constitution 
was  formed.  It  was  plenary  then, 
and  of  course  must  be  plenary 
now. 

This  collision  of  opinion  be- 
tween the  two  Governments  did 
not  necessarily  produce  war.  It 
was  the  common  case  of  differ- 
ence of  opinion  between  sove- 
reigns as  to  the  true  construction 
of  a  compact.  In  all  such  cases 
some  mode  must  be  devised  to 
settle  the  difficulty,  and  happily 
for  us,  the  mode  is  clearly  indicat- 
ed by  the  Constitution  itself,  and 
results  from  the  form  and  struc- 
ture of  the  Government.  The 
creating  power  is  three  fourths  oi 
the  States.  By  their  decision  the 
parties  to  the  compact  have  agreed 
to  be  bound,  even  to  the  extent 
of  changing  the  entire  form  of 
the  Government,  and  it  follows  of 
necessity,  that  in  cases  of  delib- 
erate and  settled  difference  of 
opinion  between  the  parties  to  the 
compact,  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
powers  of  either,  resorts  must  be 
had  to  their  common  superior  — 
(that  power  which  may  give  any 
character  it  pleases  to  the  Consti- 
tution) viz.,  three  fourths  of  the 
States. 

This  was  Mr  Jefferson's  opin- 
ion, and  conforms  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  famous  Virginia  resolutions 
and  report  of  '98,  and  the  Ken- 
tucky resolutions  of  1799.  Mr 
H.  then  contended  that  when  a 
State  had  declared  a  law  of  Con- 
gress to  be  unconstitutional,  it 
could  not  go  into  effect  until  it 
had  been  sanctioned  by  three 
fourths  of  the  States, 

If  the  nullifying  State  were 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


137 


compelled  to  appeal  to  the  three 
fourth  votes,  in  order  to  arrest 
the  law,  she  would  be  compelled 
to  submit  to  the  exercise  of  an 
unconstitutional  power  and  it  would 
be  absurd  to  suppose  that  any 
redress  could  be  obtained  upon 
such  an  appeal,  even  if  a  State 
were  at  liberty  to  make  i^ 

A  majority  of  both  Houses  of 
Congress  must  sanction  the  law 
before  it  could  be  passed,  and 
there  was  no  probability  of  its 
being  declared  unconstitutional  by 
three  fourths  of  the  States.  A 
proposition  too,  to  amend  the  Con- 
stitution, can  only  come  from  two 
thirds  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con- 
gress or  from  the  legislatures  of  two 
thirds  of  the  States.  A  minority 
therefore  has  no  other  mode  of 
obtaining  redress.  There  is  no 
danger  of  weakening  the  Union 
in  this  manner.  The  Government 
is  one  of  checks  and  balances, 
and  it  is  in  the  "true  spirit  of  the 
system,  that  the  States  should  have 
the  power  to  check  the  Federal 
Government,  so  far  as  to  preserve 
the  Constitution  from  '  gross,  pal- 
pable, and  deliberate  violations,' 
and  to  compel  an  appeal  to  the 
amending  power  in  cases  of  real 
doubt  and  difficulty. 

This  check  is  by  far  the  safest 
and  least  liable  to  abuse,  of  any 
])rovided  by  the  Constitution.  A 
fjuorura  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
can,  by  a  bare  majority,  consisting 
only  of  three  judges,  declare  a 
law  to  be  unconstitudonal. 

Mr  H.  said  that  without  mean- 
ing to  detract  from  that  high  tri- 
bunal, for  whose  decisions  when 
confined  to  their  appropriate 
sphere  ('  questions  in  law  equity') 
he  had  great  respect,  he  thought 
that  that  delicate  power  might  be 


as  safely  entrusted  to  a  State. 
She  would  always  feel  the  neces- 
sity of  consulting  public  opinion 
both  at  home  and  abroad  before 
she  would  venture  to  resort  to 
such  a  measure,  and  as  it  was 
only  an  extreme  case  that  would 
justify  the  interposition,  there 
would  be  no  danger  of  any  abuse 
of  the  power. 

In  reply  to  the  call  to  show  the 
practical  effects  of  his  doctrine, 
Mr  Hayne  said  that  the  right  of 
a   State  being  established,  the 
General  Government,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  was  bound  to  acquiesce 
in  a  solemn  decision  of  the  State 
acting  in  its  sovereign  capacity, 
until  the  people  by  an  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  had  decided 
to  the     contrary.      Until  this 
solemn  decision  is  thus  reversed, 
the  Federal  Government  is  bound 
not  to  resort  to  any  means  of 
coercion  ascainst  the  citizens  of 
the  dissenting  States.    All  col- 
lision is  thus  prevented.    But  if 
a  law  unconstitutional  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  citizens  of  any  one 
State,  should  be  carried  into  effect 
even  with  the  concurrence  of  all 
the  branches  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, collision   must  ensue. 
The  juries  in  the  dissenting  State 
would  not  giv^e  effect  to  the  un- 
constitutional law,  and  unless  they 
could  be  coerced  by  the  bayonet, 
the  law  would  be  in  effect  nulli- 
fied.    The   difference  between 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
and  himself  respecting  a  clear 
violation  of  the  Constitution  which 
ought  to  be  resisted,  was,  that  he 
advocated  upon  the  principles  of 
revolution  and  he  (Mr  Hayne) 
upon  those  of  constitutional  re- 
sistance.   He  would  make  force 
the  only  arbiter  in  cases  of  colli- 


138 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


sion  between  the  Federal  and 
Stale  Governments,  while  he 
(Mr  Hayne)  would  resort  to  a 
peaceful  remedy,  the  interposition 
o  f  the  States  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  the  evil,  until  a  conven- 
tion called  according  to  the  Con- 
stitution should  determine  the  dis- 
pute. 

In  reply  to  this  argument  Mr 
Webster  said,  that  the  argument 
of  Mr  H.  consisted  of  two  pro- 
positions, and  an  inference.  His 
propositions  are  — 

1.  That  the  Constitution  is  a 
'•compact  between  the  States. 

2.  That  a  compact  between 
two,  with  authority  reserved  to  one 
to  interpret  its  terms,  would  be  a 
surrender  to  that  one  of  all  power 
■whatever. 

3.  Therefore,  (such  is  his  In- 
ference) the  General  Government 
does  not  possess  the  authority  to 
fConstrue  its  own  powers. 

Now,  sir,  who  does  not  see, 
without  the  aid  of  exposition  or 
detection,  the  utter  confusion  of 
ideas,  involved  in. this,  so  elaborate 
and  systematic  argument. 

The  Constitution,  it  is  said,  is  a 
compact  hetiveen  States;  the 
States,  then,  and  the  States  only, 
are  parties  to  the  compact.  How 
comes  the  General  Government 
itself  a  party  ?  Upon  the  honora- 
ble gentleman's  hypothesis,  the 
General  Government  is  the  result 
of  the  compact,  the  creature  of 
the  compact,  not  one  of  the  par- 
ties to  it.  Yet  the  argument,  as 
the  gentleman  has  now  stated  il, 
makes  the  Government  itself  one 
of  its  own  creators.  It  makes  it  a 
party  to  that  compact,  to  which  it 
«wes  its  own  existence. 

For  the  purpose  of  erecting  the 


Constitution  on  the  basis  of  a 
compact,  the  gentleman  considers 
the  States  as  parties  to  that  com- 
pact ;  but  as  soon  as  his  compact 
is  made,  then  he  chooses  to  con- 
sider the  General  Government, 
which  is  the  offspring  of  that  com- 
pact, not  its  offspring,  but  one  of 
its  parties ;  and  so,  being  a  party, 
has  not  the  })Ower  of  judging  on 
the  terms  of  the  compact.  In 
what  school  is  such  reasoning  as 
this  tauglii? 

If  the  whole  of  the  gentleman's 
main  proposition  were  conceded 
to  him,ihat  is  to  say  —  that  the 
Constitution  is  a  compact  between 
States,  the  inferences,  which  he 
draws  from  that  proposition,  are 
warranted  by  no  just  reason.  Be- 
cause, if  the  Constitution  be  a 
compact  between  States,  still,  that 
Constitution,  or  that  compact,  has 
established  a  government,  with 
certain  powers ;  and  w^hether  it 
be  one  of  those  powers,  that  it 
shall  construe  and  interpret  for  it- 
self, the  terms  of  the  compact,  in 
doubtful  cases,  can  only  be  de- 
cided by  looking  to  the  compact, 
and  inquiring  what  provisions  it 
contains  on  this  point.  Without 
any  inconsistency  with  natural  rea- 
son, the  Government,  even  thus 
created,  might  be  trusted  w^ith  this 
power  of  construction.  The  ex- 
tent of  its  powers,  therefore,  must 
still  be  sought  for  in  the  instru- 
ment itself. 

If  the  old  Confederation  had 
contained  a  clause,  declaring  that 
resolutions  of  the  Congress  should 
be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
any  State  law  or  constitution  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  and 
that  a  committee  of  Congress,  or 
any  other  body  created  by  it. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


139 


should  possess  Judicial  powers, 
extending  to  all  cases  arising  un- 
der resolutions  of  Congress,  then 
the  power  of  ultimate  decision 
would  have  been  vested  in  Con- 
gress, under  the  Confederation, 
although  that  Confederation  was 
a  compact  between  States.  And 
for  this  plain  reason  :  that  it  would 
have  been  competent  to  the  states, 
who  alone  were  parties  to  the 
compact,  to  agree,  who  should 
decide  in  cases  of  dispute  arising 
on  the  construction  of  the  com- 
pact. 

For  the  same  reason,  sir,  if  I 
were  now  to  concede  to  the  gen- 
tleman his  principal  propositions, 
viz.  thatt^e  Constitution  is  a  com- 
pact between  States,  the  question 
would  still  be,  what  provision  is 
made,  in  this  compact,  to  setde 
points  of  disputed  construction,  or 
contested  power,  that  shall  come 
into  controversy  ?  and  this  ques- 
tion would  still  be  answered,  and 
conclusively  answered,   by  the 
Constitution  itself.    While  the 
gentleman  is  contending  against 
construction,  he  himself  is  setting 
up  the  most  loose  and  dangerous 
construcdon.    The  Constitutio 
declares,  that  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress shall  he  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land.     No    construction  is 
necessary  here.    It  declares,  also, 
with  equal  plainness  and  precision, 
that  the  Judicial  power  of 
United  States  shall  extend  to  every 
case  arising  under  the  laws  of 
Congress.    This  needs  no  con- 
struction.   Here  is  a  law,  then, 
which  is  declared  to  be  supreme  : 
and  here  is  a  power  established, 
which  is  to  interpret  that  law. 
Now,  sir,  now  has  the  gentleman 
met  this  ?  Suppose  the  Constitu- 


tion to  be  a  compact,  yet  here  are 
its  terms,  and  how  does  the  gen- 
tleman get  rid  of  them  ?  He  can- 
not argue  the  seal  off  the  bond, 
nor  the  words  out  of  the  instru- 
ment.   Here  they  are  —  what 
answer  does  he  give  to  them  ? 
None  in  the  world,  sir,  except,  that 
the  effect  of  this  would  be  to 
place  the  States  in  a  condition  of 
inferiority  ;  and  because  it  results, 
from  the  very  nature  of  things, 
there  being  no  superior,  that  the 
parties  must  be  their  own  judges  ! 
Thus  closely  and  cogently  does 
the  honorable  gentleman  reason 
on  the  words  of  the  Constitution. 
The  gendeman  says,  if  there  be 
such  a  power  of  final  decision  in 
the  General  Government,  he  asks 
for   the   grant  of  that  power. 
Well,  sir,  1  show  him  the  grant  — 
I  turn  him  to  the  very  words  —  T 
show  him  that  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress are  made  supreme ;  and 
that  the  Judicial  power  extends, 
by  express  words,  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  these  laws.    Instead  of 
answering  this,  he  retreats  into  the 
general  reflection,  that  it  must  re- 
sult from  the  nature  of  things, 
that  the  States,  being  parties,  must 
judge  for  themselves. 

I  have  admitted,  that  if  the 
Constitution  were  to  be  considered 
as  the  creature  of  the  State  Gov- 
ernments, it  might  be  modified, 
interpreted,  or  construed,  accord- 
ing to  their  pleasure.  But  even 
in  that  case,  it  would  be  necessary 
that  they  should  agree.  One, 
alone,  could  not  interpret  itc  on- 
clusively  ;  one,  alone,  could  not 
construe  it ;  one,  alone,  could 
not  modify  it.  Yet  the  gentle- 
man's doctrine  is,  that  Carolina, 
alone,  m.ay  construe  and  interpret 


140  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  compact,  which  equally  binds 
all,  and  gives  equal  rights  to  all. 

So  then,  sir,  even  supposing  the 
Constitution  to  be  a  compact  be- 
tween the  States,  the  gentleman's 
doctrine,  nevertheless,  is  not  main- 
tainable ;  because,  first,  the  Gen- 
eral Government  is  not  a  party  to 
that  compact,  but  a  Government 
established  by  it,  and  vested  by 
it  with  the  powers  of  trying  and 
deciding  doubtful  questions;  and, 
secondly  because,  if  the  Consti- 
tution be  regarded  as  a  compact, 
not  one  State  only,  but  all  the 
States,  are  parties  to  that  com- 
pact and  one  can  have  no  right 
to  fix  upon  it  her  own  peculiar 
construction. 

So  much,  sir,  for  the  argument, 
even  if  the  premises  of  the  gen- 
tleman were  granted,  or  could  be 
proved.  But,  sir,  the  gentleman 
has  failed  to  maintain  his  leading 
proposition.  He  has  not  shown, 
it  cannot  be  shown,  that  the  Con- 
stitution is  a  compact  between 
State  Governments.  The  Con- 
stitution itself  in  its  very  front, 
refutes  that  :  it  declares  that  it  is 
ordained  and  established  by  the 
People  of  the  United  States. 
So  far  from  saying  that  it  is  estab- 
lished by  the  Governments  of  the 
several  States,  it  does  not  even 
say  that  it  is  established  by  the 
People  of  the  several  States; 
but  it  pronounces  that  it  is  estab- 
lished by  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  in  the  aggregate.  The 
gentleman  says  it  must  mean  no 
more  than  the  People  of  the  sev- 
eral States.  Doubdess,  the  Peo- 
ple of  the  several  States,  taken 
collectively,  constitute  the  Peo- 
ple of  the  United  States ;  but  it 
is  in  this,  their  collective  capacity. 


it  is  as  all  the  People  of  the 
United  States,  that  they  establish- 
ed the  Constitution.  So  they  de- 
clare ;  and  words  cannot  be 
plainer tlian  the  words  used. 

When  the  gentleman  says  the 
Constitution  is  a  compact  between 
the  States,  he  uses  language  ex- 
actly applicable  to  the  old  Con- 
federation. He  speaks  as  if  he 
were  in  Congress  before  1789. 
He  describes  fully  that  old  state 
of  things  then  existing.  The 
Confederation  was,  in  strictness, 
a  compact :  the  States,  as  States, 
were  parties  to  it.  We  had  no 
other  General  Government.  But 
that  was  found  insufficient,  and 
inadequate  to  the  public  exigen- 
cies. The  People  were  not  satis- 
fied with  it,  and  undertook  to 
establish  a  better.  They  under- 
took to  form  a  General  Govern- 
ment, which  should  stand  on  a 
new  basis  —  not  a  confederacy, 
not  a  league,  not  a  compact  be- 
tween States,  but  a  Constitution  ; 
a  Popular  Government,  founded 
in  popular  election,  directly  re- 
sponsible to  the  People  them- 
selves, and  divided  into  branches, 
with  prescribed  limits  of  power, 
and  prescribed  duties.  They  or- 
dained such  a  Government ;  they 
gave  it  the  name  of  a  Constitu- 
tion^ and  therein  they  established 
a  distribution  of  powers  between 
this  their  General  Government, 
and  their  several  State  Govern- 
ments. When  they  shall  become 
dissatisfied  with  this  distribution, 
they  can  alter  it.  Their  own 
power  over  their  own  instrument 
remains.  But  until  they  shall  alter 
it,  it  must  stand  as  their  will,  and 
is  equally  binding  on  the  General 
Government  and  on  the  States. 


DEBATE  IN  SENATE. 


141 


The  gentleman,  sir,  finds  an- 
alogy where  I  see  none.  He 
likens  it  to  the  case  of  a  treaty,  in 
which,  there  being  no  common 
superior,  each  party  must  inter- 
pret for  itself,  under  its  own  ob- 
ligation of  good  faith.  But  this 
is  a  Constitution  of  Government, 
with  powers  to  execute  itself,  and 
fulfil  its  duties.  I  admit,  sir,  that 
this  Government  is  a  Govern- 
ment of  checksj  and  balances ; 
that  is,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives is  a  check  on  the  Senate, 
and  the  Senate  is  a  check  on  the 
House,  and  the  President  a  check 
on  both.  But  1  cannot  compre- 
hend him,  or,  if  I  do,  I  totally 
differ  from  him,  when  he  applies 
the  notion  of  checks  and  balances 
to  the  interference  of  different 
Governments.  He  argues,  that 
if  we  transgress,  each  State,  as 
a  State,  has  a  right  to  check  us. 
Does  he  admit  the  converse  of 
the  proposition,  that  we  have  a 
right  to  check  the  States  ?  The 
gentleman's  doctrines  would  give 
us  a  strange  jumble  of  authorities 
and  powers,  instead  of  Govern- 
ments of  separate  and  defined 
powers.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom, 
I  think,  to  avoid  this ;  and  to  keep 
tlie  General  Government,  and  the 
State  Governments,  each  in  its 
proper  sphere,  avoiding,  as  care- 
fully as  possible,  every  kind  of 
interference. 

Finally,  sir,  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman says,  that  the  States  will 
only  interfere,  by  their  power,  to 
preserve  the  Constitution.  They 
will  not  destroy  it,  they  will  not 
impair  it  —  they  will  only  save, 
they  will  only  preserve,  they  will 
only  strengthen  it !  Tins  is  but 
13 


the  old  story.  All  regulated  Gov- 
ernments, all  free  Governments, 
have  been  broken  up  by  similar 
disinterested  and  well  disposed 
interference!  It  is  the  common 
pretence. 

After  this  discussion  concern- 
ing the  relative  powers  of  the 
Federal  and  State  Governments, 
the  debate  continued  for  several 
weeks,  and  the  speakers  wandered 
from  the  subject  of  the  public 
lands  to  discuss  almost  every 
topic  of  general  interest  connected 
with  the  politics  of  the  day. 

The  right  of  the  President  to 
remove  without  cause  was  ex- 
amined, and  the  prescriptive  sys- 
tem of  the  present  administration 
was  severely  censured,  and  as 
earnestly  defended. 

Many  of  the  speeches  were 
distinguished  for  eloquence,  inge- 
nuity and  power,  but  it  would  be 
inconsistent  with  the  plan  of  this 
work  to  pursue  the  analysis  of  the 
debate. 

The  original  cause  of  Mr  Foot's 
resolution  still  subsisted  in  the 
bill  for  the  graduation  of  the 
prices  of  public  lands,  which  had 
been  brought  forward  early  in  the 
session  by  Mr  Benton  and  was  still 
urged  upon  the  Senate.  This 
bill  provided,  that  after  the  30th 
of  June,  1830,  all  lands  which 
had  been  subject  to  private  entry 
since  1827,  might  be  entered  at 
$i  per  acre;  that  heads  of  fami- 
lies, single  men  over  21,  and 
widows  might  each  enter  one 
quarter  of  a  section,  remaining 
unsold  on  payment  of  seventy- 
five  cents  per  acre  and  on  forth- 
with settling  and  cultivating  the 


142 


ANNUAL  REGISTER  1829  —  30. 


same  for  five  years.  Preemption 
rights  of  A  section  were  to  be 
granted  to  settlers  at  sevenlyfive 
cents  per  acre.  Provision  was 
also  made  for  the  closing  of  land 
officers  in  districts  where  the  land 
was  sold,  and  for  fixing  the  fees  of 
the  land  officers. 

According  to  the  bill,  as  origin- 
ally proposed,  all  land  remaining 
unsold  on  the  30th  of  June,  1835, 
was  to  be  transferred  to  the  States 
within  which  it  was  situated,  for 
the  purposes  of  promoting  edu- 
cation and  internal  improvement ; 
but  upon  motion  of  Mr  Hayne, 
this  provision  was  stricken  out, 
as  was  one  (upon  motion  of  Mr 
Woodbury)  authorizing  donations 
of  80  acres  each,  to  persons  in  in- 
digent circumstances.     The  bill 
was  brought  up  for  final  decision 
on  the  5th  of  May.    Mr  Clayton, 
moved  to  postpone  the  bill  inde- 
finitely, not  because  he  was  op- 
posed to  an  equitable  graduation 
or  reduction  of  the  price  of  the 
public  lands  (according  to  the 
real  value)  that  had  remained  in 
the  market  at  the  minimum  price 
for  a  length  of  time  and  unsold, 
but  because  he  objected  to  the 
principle  as  established  by  this 
bill,  of  equalizing  the  value  of  the 
seventy  millions  of  acres  of  the 
public  lands  upon  which  it  is  in- 
tended to  operate.    This  motion 
was  negatived  yeas  20,  nays  25 


Mr  Bell  then  moved  to  lay  the 
bill  on  the  table  until  the  next  day, 
in  order  that  it  might  be  printed 
as  amended,  which  was  negatived 
by  yeas  and  nays,  22  to  23. 

The  bill  was  then  ordered  to 
be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading, 
yeas  24,  na3'S  22,  and  was  finally 
passed  by  the  Senate  on  the  7th 
of  May  by  the  same  vote. 

It  was  taken  up  in  the  House 
on  the  29th  of  May,  two  days  be- 
fre  the  close  of  the  session,  and 
it  being  deemed  too  late  to  dis- 
cuss a  bill  involving  the  policy  of 
the  existing  land  laws  of  the 
United  States,  a  motion  was  made 
by  a  western  member  to  lay^  the 
bill  on  the  table,  which  was  car- 
ried, 82  affirmative  and  68  neg- 
ative. 

Although  the  ostensible  cause 
of  this  great  debate  in  the  Senate 
was  thus  disposed  of,  the  real 
question  at  issue  concerning  the 
relative  powers  of  the  Federal 
and  State  Governments  was  still 
agitated,  and  in  South  Carolina 
the  nullifying  party  made  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  State  Government,  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  carrying 
their  principles  into  practice. 

A  State  convention  was  de- 
manded ;  but  the  proceedings  in 
relation  of  that  subject  properly 
fall  within  the  history  of  the  next 
year. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Opening  of  the  First  Session  of  Twenty  first  Congress. — Presi* 
denfs  Message.  —  Retrenchment.  —  Amendments  to  Constitu- 
tion. —  United  States  Banl{.  —  Tariff.  —  Bill  to  enforce  ;  Poli- 
cy ;  Discussion  of  and  passage.  —  Bills  to  reduce  Duty  on  Salt; 
on  Molasses;  on  Tea  and  Coffee. —  Tonnage  Duties. —  Cash 
Duties.  —  Mr  Benton^ s  Scheme.  —  Mr  Cambreleng^s  Navigation 
Bill.  — Discussion  concerning  Prosperity  of  Country. 


The  first  session  of  the  twenty- 
first  Congress  commenced  on  the 
7th  of  December,  1829. 

Thirtyfive  Senators  appeared 
at  the  commencement  of  the  ses- 
sion, and  Samuel  Smith  resumed 
the  Chair  as  President  pro  tem- 
pore. 

In  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives 191  members  answered  to 
their  names  and  proceeded  to  or- 
ganize the  House.  Upon  ballot- 
ing for  Speaker,  the  vote  stood, 

Andrew  Stevenson,  ....  152 

Wm.  D.  Martin,  21 

Scattering,  18 

Mr  Stevenson  having  been  elect- 
ed Speaker,  the  House  adjourned 
to  the  next  day,  when  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  trans- 
mitted his  annual  Message  to 
Congress. 

This  message,  which  did  not 
in  point  of  expression  fall  behind 
those  of  his  predecessors,  will  be 
found  among  the  Public  Docu- 
ments. 


It  gave  a  succinct  account  of 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  United 
States  and  stated  emphatically 
that  in  the  execution  of  that 
branch  of  his  duties,  'it  was  the 
settled  purpose  of  the  President 
to  ask  nothing  that  was  not  clearly 
right  and  to  submit  to  nothing  that 
was  wrong.' 

The  controversies  with  Eng- 
land, growing  out  of  the  disputed 
boundary  and  the  colonial  trade, 
were  stated  to  be  in  a  train  of 
adjustment,  and  a  strong  hope 
was  expressed  that  the  efforts  to 
arrange  the  terms  of  intercourse 
with  the  British  Islands  would 
prove  successful. 

The  claims  with  France  were 
said  to  have  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  the  special  attention  of  our 
minister,  who  was  instructed  to 
urge  their  settlement  upon  the 
French  Government  as  a  matter 
which  must  continue  to  furnish 
the  subject  of  unpleasant  discus- 
sion and  possible  collision  betvveea 
the  two  Governments. 


144 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


The  ministers  at  Denmark  and 
Spain  were  urging  the  claims  of 
American  citizens  upon  those 
Governments  upon  their  attention  ; 
and  their  claims  upon  the  South 
American  Governments  were 
stated  to  have  been  satisfactorily 
adjusted. 

A  treaty  had  been  made  with 
Austria,  and  one  with  Turkey,  it 
was  intimated,  might  be  expected. 

The  relations  with  Portugal 
were  said  to  have  been  renewed 
upon  the  principle  of  acknowledg- 
ing the  Sovereign  de  facto,  and 
our  relations  with  the  new  Ameri- 
can powers  were  declared  to  be 
on  a  satisfactory  footing,  with  the 
exception  of  Mexico,  where  an 
unfounded  and  extraordinary  jea- 
lousy prevails. 

Among  the  most  urgent  of  his 
duties,  the  President  considered 
that  of  recommending  an  altera- 
tion of  the  Constitution,  so  as  to 
make  the  election  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  immediate  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  limit  him  to  one  term 
of  service. 

He  also  recommended  the  ex- 
clusion of  Members  of  Congress 
from  all  offices  except  judicial, 
diplomatic  or  connected  immedi- 
ately with  the  Cabinet,  and  a  ge- 
neral extension  of  the  law  hmiting 
appointments  to  four  years. 

Some  general  observations  were 
made  respecting  the  tariff,  and  a 
modification  of  its  details  was  re- 
commended with  the  view  of  ren- 
dering it  more  acceptable  to  the 
different  sections  of  the  Union. 

The  condition  of  the  treasury 
was  declared  to  be  flourishing. 
The  balance  in  the  treasury,  Jan. 
1st,  1829,  was  #5,972,435,  The 
receipts  of  the  year  were  estima- 


ted at  $24,602,230.  The  ex- 
penses at  $'26,1 64,595  ;  leaving  a 
balance  on  the  1st  January,  1830, 
of  $4,410,070.  During  the  year 
.$'12,405,005  had  been  paid  on 
account  of  the  public  debt,  re- 
ducing it  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1830,  to  $48,565,406,  including 
$7,000,000  subscribed  to  the 
stock  of  the  United  States  Bank. 

From  this  aspect  of  the  public 
finances,  he  inferred,  that  the 
speedy  discharge  of  the  national 
debt  would  soon  bring  a  large 
surplus  into  the  treasury,  which, 
however  beneficial  it  might  be  to 
apply  to  the  internal  improvement 
of  the  country,  could  not  be  so 
applied,  in  the  opinions  of  many, 
without  a  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  in  the  opinions  of  all, 
at  the  expense  of  harmony  in  the 
Legislative  Councils.  To  avoid 
those  evils,  he  recommended  an 
apportionment  of  the  surplus  reve- 
nue among  the  several  States, 
according  to  their  ratio  of  repre- 
sentation. 

The  President  also  recom- 
mended the  creation  of  a  depart- 
ment, at  whose  head  the  Attorney 
General  was  to  be  placed,  to  en- 
force the  collection  of  debts  due 
to  the  United  States. 

The  military  academy  was  also 
highly  recommended  to  the  fos- 
tering care  of  Congress,  and  a 
modification  of  the  pension  law, 
so  as  to  impart  relief  to  every 
revolutionary  soldier  unable  to 
maintain  himself. 

The  attention  of  Congress  was 
directed  to  the  condition  of  the 
Indian  tribes,  and  a  system  of 
policy  recommended,  which  will 
be  found  fully  detailed  in  chapter 
third.    A  suggestion  was  made 


RETRENCHMENT. 


145 


as  to  the  propriety  of  modifying 
the  judicial  system  of  the  United 
States,  by  dividing  the  Circuit 
Judges  into  two  classes,  and  pro- 
viding that  the  Supreme  Court 
should  be  held  by  these  classes 
alternately;  the  Chief  Justice 
always  presiding.  A  new  de- 
partment was  also  recommended, 
to  be  called  the  home  department ; 
and  a  strong  opinion  was  express- 
ed against  the  propriety  of  re- 
newing the  charter  of  the  United 
States  Bank  upon  its  expiration  in 
1836,  on  the  score  that  the  law 
creating  it  was  deemed  unconsti- 
tutional and  inexpedient ;  and  that 
it  had  failed  in  establishing  a  uni- 
form and  sound  currency. 

As  a  substitute  to  that  institu- 
tion, the  President  recommend- 
ed the  establishment  of  a  Nation- 
al Bank,  founded  upon  the  credit 
and  resources  of  the  Government. 

Other  topics  of  less  importance 
were  also  introduced  in  the  mes- 
sage, which  will  be  found  among 
the  Public  Documents  in  the  se- 
cond part  of  this  volume. 

So  much  had  been  said  by  the 
supporters  of  the  President  dur- 
ing the  late  canvass,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  retrenchment  and  reform, 
and  the  augmented  expenditure 
of  the  Government  had  been  so 
directly  imputed  lo  the  extrava- 
gance of  those  administering  it, 
that  a  general  expectation  prevail- 
ed that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
triumphant  party  would  be  to 
curtail  the  public  expenses  by 
abolishing  offices  which  might 
be  deemed  useless,  and  by  di- 
minishing the  salaries  of  those 
which  could  not  be  dispensed 
with.  The  two  parties  had  joia- 
13* 


ed  issue  upon  these  points  during 
the  contest ;  one  insisting  that  the 
increased  expenses  of  the  Feder- 
al Government  furnished  conclu- 
sive proof  of  the  extravagance  of 
the  administration;  and  the  other 
contending  that  they  grew  out  of 
the  increasing  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  nation  and  the  ex- 
tended relations  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

The  people  had  decided  in  fa- 
vor of  the  former,  and  it  now  de- 
volved upon  them  to  put  in  prac- 
tice their  maxims  of  reform.  In 
the  message  to  Congress  the 
President  invited  that  body  to  in- 
quire into  the  condition  of  the 
Government,  with  the  view  to  a 
general  retrenchment  of  its  ex- 
penses; and  also  recommended 
a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  out- 
standing claims  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  recovery  of  most  of 
which  was  deemed  desperate. 

Congress  was  looked  to  as  a 
body,  therefore,  that  would  un- 
doubtedly act  upon  this  recom- 
mendation of  the  Executive,  and 
the  session  opened  with  an  ex- 
pectation of  the  speedy  realization 
of  those  promises  of  reform  which 
had  been  so  liberally  made  when 
out  of  power  by  the  party  now 
in  possession  of  the  Government. 

Of  the  select  committees  ap- 
pointed in  the  House,  was  one 
on  this  subject,  composed  of 
Messrs  Wicklifte,  Coulter,  Davis, 
of  Massachusetts,  Lamar,  Coke, 
Huntington  and  Dewitt. 

The  recommendation  in  the 
message  was  of  course  referred 
to  that  committee,  as  upon  mo- 
tion of  Mr  Chilton  were  also  the 
bills  reported  by  the  committee 
on  retrenchment  at  the  last  Qon- 


146  ANNUAL  REGIS': 

gress,  in  pursuance  of  the  views 
inculcated  in  its  celebrated  re- 
port. 

The  subject  was  therefore  again 
fully  before  the  country,  and  the 
Committee  felt  bound  to  at  least 
appear  to  act  in  behalf  of  a  cause 
upon  which  so  much  stress  had 
been  laid  during  the  pendency  of 
the  appeal  to   public  opinion. 
Bills  were  accordingly  brought  in 
at  different  times  during  the  ses- 
sion, 1st,  to  regulate  the  mileage 
of  members  of  Congress ;  2d, 
the  allowance  for  forage  to  army 
officers  ;  3d,  to  prevent  improper 
allowances  to  public   agents  in 
setding  their  accounts ;  4th,  to 
abolish  the  board  of  Navy  Com- 
missioners ;  5th,  to  prohibit  the  use 
of  secret  service  money  in  time 
of  peace  ;  6th,  to  abolish  the  office 
of  Major  General  in  the  army  ; 
7th,  brevet  rank  both  in  the  army 
and  marine  corps  ;  8th,  to  abolish 
the  practice  of  annually  examin- 
ing the  land  officers  ;  9ih,  to  regu- 
late the  pay  of  military  and  na- 
val officers  :  10th,  to  secure  the 
accountability  of  public  agents  in 
foreign  countries. 

Resolutions  were  also  brought 
in  by  the  Committee  to  abolish 
the  office  of  Draughtsman  of  the 
house ;  to  diminish  the  expenses 
of  public  printing,  and  also  in 
favor  of  specific  appropriations  ; 
but  they  were  permitted  to  re- 
main undisturbed  except  the  re- 
solution relating  to  the  Draughts- 
man, which  after  long  and  fre- 
quent debates  was  carried,  95  af- 
firmative, 80  negative. 

A  similar  fate  attended  the 
bills  reported  to  curtail  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Government,,,  with 
the  xception   of  that  abolishing 


PER,  1829  —  30. 

the  practice  of  examining  the 
books  of  the  land  officers  once 
a  year  and  ascertaining  the  bal- 
ance in  the  hands  of  the  receivers. 
This  bill  was  passed  into  a  law, 
but  the  others,  which,  aimed  more 
directly  at  retrenching  expenses, 
that  were  stigmatized  as  indica- 
tions of  the  corrupt  administration 
of  affiiirs,  were  not  deemed  of 
sufficient  importance  to  warrant  a 
vigorous  effort  to  carry  them. 

That  establishing  an  uniform 
mode  of  computing  the  mileage 
of  members  of  Congress  indeed 
received  the  sanction  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  but  was  laid 
on  the  table  in  the  Senate  upon 
motion  of  Mr  Bibb,  and  remained 
there  until  the  termination  of  the 
session.  Most  of  the  other  bills  re- 
mained undisturbed  in  the  House, 
and  the  session  closed  without 
further  notice  of  a  subject,  which 
had  proved  the  cause  of  so  much 
agitation  and  invective  during  the 
last  administration. 

Nothing  was  retrenched  and 
the  attempts  which  were  made 
by  some  of  the  accounting  offi- 
cers of  the  Treasury  to  introduce 
a  new  system  into  that  department, 
caused  so  much  confusion  and 
inconvenience,  that  Congress  was 
compelled  by  resolution  or  by 
law  to  direct  the  continuance  of 
the  former  allowances. 

The  cause  of  reform  fared  no 
better  in  the  Senate,  where  a 
select  Committee  was  appointed 
to  take  this  and  other  subjects  of 
a  political  character  into  consider- 
ation. 

Bills  were  reported  by  the 
chairman  (Mr  Benton)  to  carry, 
into  effect  the  principles  of  reform, 
which  had  been  so  highly  praised 


UNITED  STATES  BANK. 


147 


viz.  to  regulate  the  publication  of 
the  laws  and  public  advertise- 
ments ;  to  displace  defaulters  ;  to 
regulate  the  appointment  6f  post- 
masters, cadets  and  midshipmen, 
and  to  prevent  military  and  naval 
officers  from  being  dismissed  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  President. 

The  period  however  had  pass- 
ed when  these  bills  were  in  the 
opinion  of  the  former,  indispensa- 
bly necessary ;  tempora  mutantur 
et  nos  mutamur  in  illis,  had  now 
become  the  motto  of  the  dominant 
party,  and  the  work  of  retrench- 
ment and  reform  found  as  little 
favor  in  the  Senate  as  in  the  other 
branch  of  the  Legislature. 

The  amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution were  deemed  equally 
unimportant  and  met  with  like 
neglect.  The  message  of  the 
Presklent  recommended  them  to 
the  attention  of  Congress,  and  the 
Committee  in  the  Senate  pursuant 
to  the  recommendation,  reported 
a  resolution  to  amend  the  Con- 
stitution by  altering  the  mode  of 
electing  the  President  and  Vice 
President.  Nothing  however  was 
done  to  give  effect  to  the  recom- 
mendation, and  the  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  slept  side  by 
side  with  the  reform  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Government. 

These  subjects  of  excitement 
had  subverted  the  purposes  for 
which  they  were  intended,  and 
the  objects  of  the  agitators  being 
answered  in  the  triumph  of  their 
party,  the  instruments  by  vvhich 
they  had  accomplished  their  ends, 
were  laid  aside  as  no  longer  ne- 
cessary. 

Another  topic  introduced  into 
the  message,  met  with  a  still  worse 


reception  in  Congress.  The 
President  had  thought  it  incum- 
bent on  him  to  express  a  strong 
opinion  against  the  propriety  of 
renewing  the  charter  of  the  bank 
of  the  United  States,  which  ex- 
pires in  1836.  The  bank  had 
not  applied  for  a  renewal  of  its 
charter,  but  as  the  attention  of 
Congress  had  been  thus  distinctly 
directed  to  this  institution,  it  was 
referred  to  the  Committees  on 
finance  in  the  several  Houses  of 
Congress  for  examination. 

The  subject  was  fully  consid- 
ered by  these  Committees,  and 
on  the  13th  of  April,  1830,  Mr 
McDuffie,  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  ways  and  means 
in  the  House,  made  a  report 
diametrically  opposite  to  the  re- 
commendation of  the  President. 

Respecting  the  first  proposition 
contained  in  the  message,  that 
Congress  had  not  the  constitu- 
tional power  to  incorporate  a 
bank,  the  committee  deemed 
that  question  no  longer  open  for 
discussion.  They  however  cited 
in  its  behalf,  not  only  the  deci- 
sions of  the  judiciary  and  the 
opinions  of  all  the  leading  states- 
men of  every  party,  but  the  offi- 
cial sanction  of  every  President, 
including  Mr  Jefferson,  under 
whose  administration  the  old  bank 
was  authorized  to  establish  a 
Branch  at  New  Orleans. 

The  first  bank  of  the  United 
States  was  incorporated  about  two 
years  after  the  formation  of  the 
Government,  when  most  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  were 
either  in  Congress  or  in  the  Cab- 
inet. The  act  incorporating  it  was 
passed  by  large  majorities  and 
received  the  sanction  of  General 


4 


148  ANNUAL  REGI 

Wasbinglon.  This  bank  contin- 
ued its  operations  for  twenty  years, 
during  which  time  public  and  pri- 
vate credit  w^ere  advanced  to  an 
elevated  condition,  and  the  finan- 
ces of  the  country  placed  upon  a 
solid  foundation. 

Mr  Jefferson  came  into  power 
after  a  violent  political  conflict, 
and  the  bank  was  in  popular  opin- 
ion associated  with  those  mea- 
sures, which  had  rendered  the 
federal  party  unpopular. 

As  a  party,  therefore,  those  ad- 
ministering the  Government  were 
opposed  to  the  renewal  of  its 
charter,  and  on  the  proposition  to 
renevv^  it,  the  question  was  nega- 
tived by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
President  of  the  Senate  and  by 
a  majority  of  a  single  vote  in  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

Within  less  than  three  years 
after  the  expiration  of  the  charter, 
the  circulating  medium  became 
disordered,  the  public  finances 
deranged,  and  the  public  credit 
impaired.  Every  member  of  the 
Cabinet  was  convinced  by  experi- 
ence of  the  necessity  of  a  national 
bank,  and  the  measure  was  recom- 
mended to  Congress  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  (Mr 
Dallas).  Congress  accordingly 
took  the  subject  into  consideration, 
and  finally  passed  by  large  ma- 
jorities, the  act  incorporating  the 
present  bank. 

This  history  of  the  bank  fur- 
nished a  strong  argument  in  favor 
of  its  constitutionality,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  this,  there  w^as  a  deci- 
sion of  the  Supreme  Court  di- 
rectly to  the  same  point.  The 
committee  then  went  into  an  ex- 
amination of  the  constitutionality 


TER,  1829  —  30. 

of  the  bank  as  shown  from  the  Con- 
stitution itself,  and  came  to  the 
conclusion,  that  Congress  was 
empowered  to  institute  a  bank 
not  only  as  one  of '  the  necessary 
and  proper  means'  of  executing 
the  powers  vested  in  it  by  the 
Constitution,  but  also  as  an  indis- 
pensable m.eans  in  regulating  the 
national  currency. 

They  also  came  to  a  different 
opinion  from  that  contained  in  the 
message  respecting  the  expedien- 
cy of  the  measure.  At  the  time 
when  the  bank  was  established, 
the  currency  of  the  Union  was 
disordered  to  such  an  extent  that 
in  some  places  it  was  depreciated 
25  per  cent  more  than  in  others. 

The  circulating  medium  of  the 
United  States  had  been  increased 
by  the  excessive  issues  of  the 
banks  to  $110,000,000;  and 
the  effects  of  this  depreciated 
currency  were  not  only  manifest- 
ed in  all  the  business  transactions 
of  the  community,  but  had  been 
productive  of  irretrievable  ruin  to 
thousands  of  innocent  individ- 
uals. 

Shortly  after  the  establishment 
of  the  bank,  the  other  banks  were 
compelled  to  resume  specie  pay- 
ments and  within  three  years  from 
the  date  of  its  charter,  the  cir- 
culating medium  of  the  country 
was  reduced  to  $45,000,000, 
and  the  nation  furnished  with  a 
sound  currency,  more  uniform  in 
its  value  than  specie  itself,  and 
of  absolute  uniform  value  for  all 
the  purposes  of  paying  the  public 
contributions  and  disbursing  the 
public  revenue. 

As  the  annual  collections  of  the 
government  amount  to  $23,000,- 


UNITED  STATES  BANK. 


149 


000,  or  nearly  one  half  of  the 
whole  circulating  medium  of  the 
country,  the  bills  of  the  bank  are 
thus  rendered  of  nearly  uniform 
value  for  all  purposes,  aud  more 
so  than  the  circulating  medium  of 
any  country  of  equal  extent  in 
the  world. 

They  therefore  concluded,  that 
the  bank  had  fulfilled  the  ends 
for  which  it  was  chartered,  and 
that  if  the  question  were  now  on 
the  renewal  of  its  charter,  that 
expediency  and  a  regard  for  the 
public  interest  would  dictate  its 
renewal. 

Those  in  whose  hands  the  in- 
stitution was  now  placed  had 
managed  it  with  discretion  and 
ability,  and  had  scrupulously 
avoided  all  interference  with  poli- 
tics. The  stockholders  had  gen- 
erally purchased  in  at  advanced 
prices,  and  a  large  portion  of 
them  were  small  capitalists  or 
trustees  of  widows  and  ophans, 
and  it  was  believed  that  as  advan- 
tageous terms  could  be  obtained 
by  the  government  for  a  renewal 
from  the  present  bank  as  from 
any  new  institution  with  a  greater 
certainty  of  their  being  fulfilled. 

The  Committee  then  proceeded 
to  examine  the  proposition  of  the 
President  to  establish  '  a  national 
bank,  founded  upon  the  credit  of 
the  Government  and  its  revenues.' 
Without  branches  they  thought  it 
would  fail  to  furnish  a  currency, 
that  would  be  available  to  the 
Union  at  large  and  would  in  effect 
be  merely  a  district  bank,  but 
whether  with  or  without  branches 
it  would  be  objectionable  ;  inas- 
much as  it  would  vest  in  its  direc- 
tion the  power  to  pledge  the 
whole  credit  and  resources  of  the 


United  States,  and  would  take 
away  all  limit  to  excessive  issues. 
With  branches,  it  would  be  still 
more  objectionable,  as  it  vested 
the  Federal  Government  with  a 
patronage  of  most  extensive  in- 
fluene  and  embracing  the  con- 
trol of  all  the  bank  accommoda- 
tions to  the  standing  amount  of 
$50,000,000.  Such  a  control 
would  introduce  more  corruption 
in  the  Government,  than  all  the 
patronage  now  belonging  to  it. 
It  was  a  desperate  financial  ex- 
periment, without  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  The  Com- 
mittee also  doubted  the  power  of 
Congress  to  vest  the  power  of 
loaning  the  public  funds  in  another 
body ;  but,  if  it  were  clear,  the 
objections  to  the  scheme  were  so 
obvious  and  conclusive,  that  they 
unhesitatingly  condemned  it  as 
pregnant  with  the  most  porten- 
tous mischiefs  and  calculated  to 
introduce  the  most  pernicious  in- 
fluence into  the  pubhc  councils. 

The  report  from  the  Committee 
on  finance  in  the  Senate,  concur- 
red with  that  of  the  House  in  its 
conclusions,  and  was  equally  de- 
cisive in  its  condemnation  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  President. 

The  friends  of  the  administra- 
tion formed  a  majority  in  both 
Committees,  and  the  marked  dif- 
ference in  the  opinions  entertained 
by  them  from  that  expressed  in 
the  message,  afforded  a  striking 
proof  of  the  want  of  harmony 
between  the  Cabinet  and  the 
party  which  had  brought  it  into 
power. 

The  effect  produced  in  the 
public  mind  by  the  message  was 
entirely  done  away,  and  the  stock 
of  the  bank,  which  had  fallen 


150 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


upon  the  delivery  of  the  message 
ffom  126  to  120,  rose  after  the 
publication  of  these  reports  to 
127  and  finally  attained  the  price 
of  $'130  per  share. 

On  another  topic  of  general 
importance,  the  recommendation 
of  the  President  met  with  more 
favor.  The  TarifFof  1828,  be- 
came a  law  during  the  excitement 
of  a  contested  election,  and  in 
adjusting  its  details,  more  regard 
had  been  paid  to  the  political  ef- 
fect of  the  law  than  to  the  per- 
manent interests  of  the  country, 
or  to  the  rules  of  political  econo- 
my. Indeed  some  provisions  had 
been  introduced  into  the  bill  by 
its  enemies,  with  the  express  view 
of  rendering  it  obnoxious,  and 
the  very  end  of  the  law,  that  of 
encouraging  the  woollen  interest, 
was  hazarded,  and  at  all  events 
rendered  more  difficult  of  attain- 
ment by  the  almost  prohibitory 
duty  imposed  on  the  coarse  wool 
of  South  America. 

In  his  annual  message  the  Presi- 
dent had  invited  the  attention  of 
Congress  to  the  subject,  and 
stated,  that  the  general  rule  to  be 
observed  in  imposing  duties  upon 
articles  of  foreign  production  was 
that  which  would  place  our  own 
in  fair  competition  with  those  of 
other  countries,  except  those  ar- 
ticles which  are  of  primary 
necessity  in  time  of  war.  In 
laying  down  this  rule  for  the 
modi  fication  of  the  tariff,  an  im- 
plied dissent,  except  as  to  articles 
required  in  time  of  war,  w^as 
given  to  the  principle  of  protection, 
upon  which  the  tariff  of  1828, 
was  founded  ;  nor  was  any  reser- 
vation made  in  favor  of  the  princi- 


ple of  retaliation,  a  principle 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  many, 
was  deemed  to  have  entered  more 
largely  into  the  motive  to  the 
tariff  of  1828,  than  any  desire  to 
protectthe  American  manufac- 
turer from  foreign  competition. 

In  modifying  the  tarif}',  the  at- 
tention of  Congress  was  particu- 
larly invited  to  the  agricultural 
interest,  as  superior  in  importance 
to  all  other  interests,  which  were 
deserving  of  encouragement  only 
so  far  as  they  contribute  to  in- 
crease the  value  of  agicultural 
productions;  and  it  was  also  ad- 
vised to  unite  in  diminishing  all 
burdens  obnoxious  to  any  par- 
ticular section  of  the  Union. 

This  recommendation  was  too 
oracular  to  be  relied  on  as  indi- 
cative of  the  real  opinions  of  the 
President  on  this  disputed  ques- 
tion. 

The  exceptions  in  favor  of  arti- 
cles required  in  time  of  w^ar 
might  be  indefinitely  extended, 
so  as  to  comprehend  more  than 
even  the  advocates  of  an,  ultra 
tariff  demanded. 

A  nation  requires  in  war  all 
and  even  more  than  it  consumes 
in  peace,  and  even  in  an  army, 
woollen,  cotton,  linen  and  iron 
manufactures  and  a  variety  of 
other  protected  ardcles,  are  of 
prime  necessity.  Unless  the  ex- 
ception be  confined  to  fire  arms, 
powder  and  ball,  it  is  too  in- 
definite to  mean  anything,  and 
with  that  construction,  the  recom- 
mendation is  hostile  to  the  tariff 
policy. 

It  was  probably  so  understood, 
and  with  the  view  of  affecting  a 
modification  of  the  revenue  sys- 
tem, several  bills  were  introduced 


TARIFF. 


to  repeal  or  diminish  the  duties 
on  various  articles  of  general  con- 
sumption. 

This  hostility  to  the  tariff  had 
been  manifested  early  in  the 
session  by  many  of  the  friends  of 
the  administration  ;  but  an  equally 
strong  feeling  of  dissatisfaction 
with  the  existing  law,  on  the 
ground  of  its  inadequate  protec- 
tion to  the  woollen  manufacturer, 
had  induced  the  friends  of  the 
policy  to  bring  forward  the  sub- 
ject with  the  view  of  obtaining  a 
modification  of  the  law  more 
favorable  to  their  interests,  and  to 
prevent  the  frauds,  which  were 
alleged  to  be  daily  practised  on  the 
revenue. 

A  bill  was  accordingly  reported 
in  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  Mr  Mallary,  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  manufactures,  on  the 
27th  of  Jan.,  1830,  to  regulate 
the  entry  of  woollen  importations. 

This  bill  provided,  that  a  sworn 
copy  of  the  invoice  of  manufac- 
tures, of  which  wool  is  a  compo- 
nent part,  should  be  delivered  to 
the  collector  and  compared  with 
the  goods  which  were  to  be  sent 
to  the  custom-house  for  the  pur- 
pose of  comparison. 

Provision  was  also  made  for 
the  appraisement  of  the  goods, 
and  for  the  forfeiture  of  ^  thereof 
if  the  appraised  value  exceeded 
the  invoice  price  more  than  10  per 
cent;  ^thereof  if  more  than  15 
per  cent ;  and  for  the  forfeiture  of 
the  whole,  if  more  than  20  per 
cent.  A  reappraisement  could  be 
demanded  by  the  importer,  or  he 
might  appeal  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  provision  was 
also  made  for  forfeiture  for  alter- 
ing or^  counterfeiting  the  marks 


on  the  goods,  and  to  prevent  frauds 
or  false  valuations  by  foreign  part- 
ners or  agents  of  the  resident  im- 
porters. The  bill  received  its 
1st  and  2d  readings  and  then 
remained  on  the  table  until  the 
15ih  of  April,  when,  after  dispos- 
ing of  some  preliminary  business 
in  the  Committee  of  the  whole 
house,  Mr  Mallary  moved,  that 
the  Committee  take  up  the  bill 
amending  the  tariff,  which  was 
carried. 

The  bill  having  been  read 
through  — 

Mr  Mallary  explained  that  the 
object  of  the  bill  being  merely  to 
give  effect  to  the  Tariff  Bill  of 
1828,  it  involved  no  principle 
which  was  likely  to  distract  the 
opinions  of  the  House,  as  he  pre- 
sumed that  all  would  unite  in  giv- 
ing force  to  an  existing  law. 

He  then  proceeded  to  show  in 
what  manner  the  law  of  1828 
had  been  violated,  and  to  point 
out  the  efficacy  of  the  remedy 
proposed  by  the  bill  under  con- 
sideration. On  the  policy  of  for- 
eign countries  in  reference  to 
their  trade,  he  made  some  re- 
marks, exonerating  France,  Hol- 
land, &1C,  from  any  attempts  to 
embarrass  our  trade.  England 
adopting  her  new  notions  of  free 
trade,  has  also  adopted  the  im- 
pression that  it  is  almost  doing 
God  service  to  put  down  our  pro- 
tective policy.  He  stated  what 
were  the  regulations  of  the  exist- 
ing law  by  which  collectors  of 
the  Custom  Houses  were  govern- 
ed. He  showed  that  the  cause  of 
the  great  frauds  that  had  been 
committed,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  goods  were  not  left  in 
the  possession  of  the  collector,  as 


m 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  law  presumed  that  they  would 
be,  and  that  the  only  goods  over 
which  he  was  able  to  exercise  con- 
trol, were  the  packages  in  the  Ap- 
praiser's Office.  He  read  from  a 
private  memorandum  some  opin- 
ions on  the  subject  of  the  law. 

Mr  Cambreleng  wished  to 
know  the  authority  to  which  he 
referred. 

Mr  Mallary  replied  that  the  au- 
thority was  a  good  one. 

Mr  Drayton  rose  to  order. 

He  wished  to  know  if  the  gen- 
tleman from  Vermont  was  not 
bound  to  give  up  his  authority 
when  asked  for  it. 

The  Chair  decided  that  Mr 
Mallary  was  in  order,  and  that  it 
was  entirely  at  his  discretion  to 
give  or  withhold  his  authority. 

Mr  Mallary  then  proceeded  to 
read  the  memorandum  which  he 
had  commenced,  together  with 
another  which  specifies  the  forms 
at  the  Custom  House.  One  pack- 
age in  twenty  only  is  sent  by  the 
Appraiser,  and  the  other  nineteen 
are  distributed  in  all  quarters, 
where  they  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  Collector  either  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enforcing  penalty  or  ascer- 
taining value. 

He  stated  that  goods  which  it 
was  known  would  produce  five 
dollars  in  Boston,  had  passed  the 
Custom  House  in  New  York  un- 
der the  dollar  minimum. 

As  to  the  evasion  of  the  reve- 
nue, he  referred  to  the  message  of 
the  President,  and  to  the  report 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
to  show  that  they  are  such  as  re- 
quire remedy.  The  Collector  of 
New  York  also  admitted  that  mon- 
strous evasions  of  the  revenue 
have  taken  place  :  but  he  wanted 


the  power  to  prevent  them.  Here 
he  complimented  the  vigilance 
and  industry  of  the  present  Col- 
lector in  the  highest  terms.  He 
had  done  his  duty  as  far  as  he 
could,  and  the  present  bill  would 
give  that  power  which  is  required 
to  make  his  exertions  effectual. 
He  stated,  on  the  authority  of  an 
Appraiser,  what  was  the  practice 
in  the  Appraising  Department. 

Having  gone  through  these 
statements,  he  inquired  where 
was  the  security  which  this  law 
was  to  give  to  the  revenue  ?  It 
was  alleged  that  the  foreign  man- 
ufacturer and  agent  are  honest 
men,  who  are  to  be  trusted.  Yet 
members  of  this  House,  it  had 
been  declared  on  this  floor,  could 
not  be  trusted  to  calculate  their 
own  mileage  :  and  the  Speaker 
could  not  be  permitted  to  appoint 
a  draughtsman. 

He  took  a  view  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  importing  business. 
Before  the  war,  there  were  about 
fifty  importing  merchants  in 
New  York ;  now,  there  are  not 
more  than  five  or  six.  At  Bos- 
ton there  were  thirty  or  forty  : 
there  are  now  about  seven. 
There  are  about  six  or  seven  out 
of  seventy  in  Philadelphia  ;  and 
they  are  in  about  the  same  ratio 
in  Baltimore.  Although  there 
were  formerly  about  160  import- 
ing merchants,  he  could  only  now 
make  out  about  sixteen.  The  na- 
ture of  the  importing  business  has 
also  undergone  great  changes. 
He  admitted  the  influence  which 
auction  sales  had  had  in  the  cor- 
ruption 01  trade,  but  contended 
that  this  corruption  had  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  successful 
frauds  practised  on  the  revenue. 


TARIFF. 


153 


On  the  subject  of  the  individ- 
uals who  are  engaged  in  the  im- 
porting trade,  he  stated  that  many 
of  these  were  foreigners,  who 
came  here  to  carry  on  importa- 
tion, abuse  our  country,  live  two 
or  three  in  a  garret,  where  they 
make  out  their  invoices,  write  es- 
says on  free  trade,  and  having  an- 
swered the  purposes  for  which 
they  came,  return  home  to  enjoy 
the  profits  of  their  labors.  Thus 
the  fair  and  high  reputation  of  the 
American  merchant  had  been  un- 
dermined :  but  he  hoped  that  the 
day  was  at  hand  when  this  reputa- 
tion would  be  again  placed  on  its 
once  elevated  station. 

He  stated,  that  from  all  the  evi- 
dence he  had  seen,  he  was  satis- 
fied that  in  ten  years  there  had 
been  evasions  of  the  revenue  to 
the  amount  of  thirty  millions, 
being  an  average  of  three  millions 
a  year,  in  consequence  of  the 
fraudulent  invoices  of  ad  valorem 
goods.  He  then  referred  to  the 
progress  which  smuggling  had 
made  within  a  short  time,  on  the 
frontier.  From  an  investigation, 
he  had  recently  come  to  the 
inevitable  conclusion,  that  great 
frauds  were  thus  committed  on 
the  public. 

After  going  through  the  general 
subject,  he  explained  the  details 
of  the  bill,  as  regards  their  char- 
acter and  operation,  obviating 
the  objections  which  had  been 
made  against  it.  The  Committee 
had  avoided  the  introduction  of 
any  new  principle,  and  had  kept 
as  near  the  letter  of  the  old  law 
as  possible. 

He  concluded  with  urging  on 
the  House  the  necessity  of  enact- 
ing  some     remedies   for  the 
14 


evils  which  had  been  proved  to 
exist. 

The  subject  was  then  postponed 
for  other  business,  until  the  26th 
of  April,  when  upon  motion  of  Mr 
Mallary  the  bouse  again  went  into 
Committee  of  the  whole,  and  re- 
sumed the  consideration  of  the  bill. 

Mr  McDuffie  replied  to  Mr 
Mallary,  and  commenced  by  say- 
ing, that  the  bill  under  considera- 
tion was  designed  to  enforce  ex- 
isting laws  of  the  country,  and 
effect  a  more  faithful  collection  ol' 
the  duties  on  imports.  This  was 
an  object  right  and  proper  in  it- 
self, and  one  which  he  was  will- 
ing to  promote.  He  would  be 
always  in  favor  of  enforcing  the 
faithful  collection  of  the  revenue, 
even  though  he  niigbt  object  to 
the  laws, by  v/hich  it  was  levied. 
In  this  case,  however,  he  would 
attain  the  faithful  collection  of  the 
revenue  by  a  mode  different  from 
that  contemplated  by  the  bill.  He 
would  do  it  by  diminishing  the  du- 
ties, and  thereby  removing  the 
inducement  to  evade  the  duties. 
With  this  view  he  moved  to  amend 
the  bill  by  striking  out  all  of  the 
bill  after  the  first  section,  and 
inserting  provisions  reducing  the 
duties  on  woollen  and  cotton  man- 
ufactures, iron  in  bars  and  bolts, 
hemp  flax,  molasses,  indigo,  cot- 
ton bagging,  to  vThat  they  were 
previous  to  the  tariff  of  182  4; 
and  that  the  duty  on  sa^t  be  re- 
duced to  15  cents  per  bushel  of 
56  pounds,  from  and  after  the 
30th  of  June  next^  and  10  cents 
after  June,  1831. 

Mr  McDuffi«  saiil  that  the 
course  prescribed  by  his  amend- 
ment, would  afford  the  best  secu- 
rity for  the  faithful  collection  of 


154 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  revenue.  He  expressed  his 
conviction  that  the  present  Tariff 
system  was  not  only  destructive 
of  our  commerce,  ruinous  to  our 
commercial  marine,  and  oppres- 
sive on  the  Southern  States,  but 
also  oppressive  on  the  great  mass 
of  the  community,  even  on  the 
manufacturing  States  themselves, 
where  nine  individuals  are  injured 
for  the  benefit  of  one.  He  then 
went  at  great  length  into  all  the 
arguments  which  have  been  from 
time  to  time  advanced  against  the 
Tariff  policy,  and  continued  his 
argument  on  that  question  during 
the  residue  of  that  day  and 
also  the  28th  and  29th  of  April, 
when  thebillwasagain  considered. 
The  discussion  being  thus  begun, 
was  continued  in  Committee  on 
the  3d,  4th,  5th,  7th,  8th,  10th, 
and  11th  of  May.  when  the  bill 
was  reported  to  the  House  with 
an  amendment,  which  was  in  ef- 
fect the  substitution  of  a  new  bill, 
having,  however,  the  same  object 
in  view.  This  bill  with  some 
unimportant  amendments  will  be 
found  among  the  Acts  of  Con- 
gress in  the  second  part  of  this 
volume.*  Upon  the  report  being 
read,  Mr  McDuffie  moved  the 
amendments  proposed  by  him  in 
Committee.  The  first,  reducing 
the  duties  on  woollen  manufac- 
tures, was  negatived,  68  affirma- 
tive, 120  negative.  Tlie  second  re- 
lating to  cotton,  hemp,  iron,  mo- 
lasses, he,  was  negatived,  70  aff. 
117  neg.  and  the  third  reducing 
the  duty  on  salt,  to  1 5  cents  per 
bushel  after  September  1st,  1830, 
and  10  cents  after  September  1st, 
1 831 ,  was  carried,  120  affirmative, 
fi3  negative. 


Mr  Wilde  then  moved  an 
amendment,  the  effect  of  which 
was  to  repeal  the  tariffof  1828, 
which  was  negatived  68  affirma- 
tive, 120  negative.  Mr  Gorham 
then  moved  a  reconsideration  of 
the  2d  amendment  proposed  by  Mr 
McDuffie  relating  to  the  duties 
on  hemp,  iron,  flour,  molasses, 
indigo  and  cotton  manufactures. 
Mr  Gorham  said  that  he  had  voted 
in  good  faith  with  the  friends  of 
protection,  against  what  was  re- 
garded as  a  general  hostile  move- 
ment against  the  tariff.  His  own 
original  objections  to  the  tariff 
were  known,  and  his  reasons  for 
refusing  to  repeal  it  after  the  sys- 
tem had  been  established.  He  had 
now  voted  with  the  friends  of  the 
system,  against  any  part  of  the 
repeal  proposed  by  the  gendeman 
from  South  Carolina,  even  on 
those  articles,  iron,  hemp,  he,  on 
which  he  most  disliked  to  con- 
tinue the  duty  ;  but  as  the  decision 
of  the  House  on  the  salt  duty 
showed  that  it  was  willing  to  di- 
minish the  duty  on  one  article,  it 
was  necessary  to  re-open  the  sub- 
ject, and  see  whether  it  would  not 
also  modify  the  duty  on  other  arti- 
cles equally  deserving  of  reduc- 
tion. He,  therefore,  had  made 
this  motion,  and  went  on  to  sus- 
tain it  by  argument  at  considera- 
ble length. 

Mr  Storrs,  of  N.  Y.  concurred 
with  Mr  G.  in  his  objections  to 
the  repeal  of  the  sah  duty,  and 
in  favor  of  his  motion.  The 
State  of  New  York  had  been  a 
firm  supporter  of  the  protecting 
system,  but  let  its  friends  repeal 
the  salt  duty,  and  thus  touch  one 
great  source  of  her  canal  fund, 


Vide  2(1  part,  page  222 


TARIFF. 


155 


and  force  her  to  resort  to  a  direct 
tax  to  supply  the  loss,  and  gentle- 
men would  find  that  State  not 
going  with  them  much  longer  in 
supporting  the  other  parts  of  the 
Tariff. 

After  some  desultory  debate 
the  House  adjourned  to  the  next 
day,  when  Mr  Gorham  again 
briefly  explained  his  object  in 
making  the  motion  and  asked  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  now  mov- 
ing the  previous  question  ? 

The  Speaker  said  it  would  then 
bring  back  the  House  to  the  ques- 
tion of  reconsideration. 

Mr  Gorham  then  asked,  that, 
supposing  he  withdrew  his  motion 
to  reconsider,  and  then  moved 
the  previous  question,  what  would 
be  the  effect  ? 

The  Speaker  said  the  effect 
would  be  to  bring  back  the  bill 
before  the  House  in  its  original 
shape,  as  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Manufactures,  exclud- 
ing all  the  amendments  made  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole. 

Mr  Gorham  said,  such  was  his 
own  view.  He  would  therefore 
withdraw  his  motion  to  reconsider, 
and  move  the  previous  question. 

He  considered  the  vote  upon 
the  Salt  Duty  as  breaking  in  upon 
the  present  system  of  revenue, 
instead  of  regulating  its  collection, 
which  was  the  object  of  the  orig- 
inal bill  now  under  consideration. 
He  appealed  togendemen  whether 
it  was  possible  to  pass  any  bill  on 
this  subject  at  this  Session,  if  the 
whole  field  of  debate  was  thus 
thrown  open.  Mr  G.  concluded 
by  saying,  that,  under  this  view 
of  the  case,  if  any  gentleman 
would  move  to  reconsider  the  vote 
upon  the  Salt  Duty,  so  as  to  make 


it  possible  to  agree  upon  any  bill 
upon  this  subject,  he  would,  to 
make  way  for  such  a  motion, 
withdraw  the  motion  he  had  made. 

Mr  Doddridge,  of  Virginia, 
having  intimated  a  disposition  to 
make  the  motion  suggested  by 
the  member  from  Massachusetts, 
Mr  Gorham  withdrew  his  motion , 
and  Mr  Doddridge  moved  to  re- 
consider the  vote  upon  M  B  irrin- 
ger's  amendment  for  reducing  the 
duty  on  Salt, 

Mr  Wayne,  of  Georgia,  asked 
whether  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  gendeman  from  Massachusetts 
to  renew  his  motion  if  the  pend- 
ing motion  was  rejected. 

Mr  Gorham  declining  to  make 
any  pledge  on  that  point  — 

Mr  Wayne,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  such  was  the  intention  of  Mr 
Gorham,  made  a  decided  speech 
against  the  course  now  proposed, 
considering  it  as  a  mere  proposi- 
tion, call  it  by  what  name  gende- 
men  would,  of  bargain  and  sale  ; 
against  which  he  inveighed  with 
considerable  warmth  and  zeal. 

Mr  Barringer,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, deprecated  a  protracted  de- 
bate on  this  question  of  recon- 
sideration, and  expressed  great 
regret  that  so  much  difficulty 
should  exist  in  obtaining  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  duty  on  this  necessary 
of  life.  He  dwelt  upon  the  course 
of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  in 
reference  to  this  duty  and  to  die 
Tariff  generally,  and  made  a  very 
strong  appeal  to  the  magnanimity 
and  spirit  of  conciliation  of  mem- 
bers from  other  States  to  grant 
this  litde  boon  to  a  State  which 
had  heretofore  asked  for  so  little, 
and  submitted  so  cheerfully  to  the 
laws  regulating  the  dudes  on  im- 


m 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


porls,  and  lo  the  general  legisla- 
tion of  Congress.  Mr  B.  con- 
cluded bis  sj)eech  by  a  rnoiion  for 
the  previous  question  (which 
would  have  been  upon  the  ques- 
tion immediately  pending,  \iz. 
reconsideration.) 

The  House  refused  to  second 
the  previous  question,  by  a  vote 
of  98  to  83. 

Mr  Reed,  of  Massachusetts, 
then  presented  his  views  of  the 
subject  of  the  duty  on  Salt. 
He  reviewed  the  history  of  the 
Salt  manufa-cture,  from  its  begin- 
ning at  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolution,  and  its  present  state. 
He  expatiated  on  the  value  of  this 
manufacture  and  the  cheapness 
of  the  article  now  produced  by 
the  Eastern  manufactories ;  and 
showed  the  very  different  state 
of  things  existing  now  from  that 
which  existed  when  the  duty  was 
fixed  —  a  state  of  things  which 
in  his  view  afforded  a  strong  argu- 
ment against  the  proposed  reduc- 
tion of  duty.  He  repelled  the 
suggestion  of  bargain  in  this  mat- 
ter, remarking  that  all  legislation 
was  founded  on  compromise,  and 
that  giving  it  an  ill  name  did  not 
change  its  general  principle. 

Mr  Vinton,  of  Ohio,  addressed 
the  House  at  considerable  length 
against  the  repeal  of  the  duty  ; 
when  he  had  concluded  — 

Mr  Thomson,  of  Georgia, 
moved  to  lay  the  motion  to  recon- 
sider on  the  table,  and  asked  for 
the  ayes  and  noes,  but  he  with- 
drew his  motion  at  the  request  of 

Mr  McCoy,  who  then  spoke  in 
favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  duty, 
and  against  the  motion  to  recon- 
sider. He  renewed  the  motion 
to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table. 


The  ayes  and  noes  were  then 
ordered. 

The  question  was  then  taken 
and  decided  in  the  negative  — 
ayes  95,  noes  101. 

Mr  Polk  then  made  soir.e  ob- 
servations against  the  motion  to 
reconsider. 

Mr  Everett  thinking  the  ques- 
tion sufficiently  argued,  demand- 
ed the  previous  question . 

Mr  Wayne  moved  a  call  of  tbc 
House,  l)ut  the  motion  w  as  nega- 
tived —  ayes  G8. 

The  call  for  the  previous  ques- 
tion was  seconded. 

Mr  Cambreleng  asked  for  the 
ayes  and  noes  on  the  previous 
question,  which  was  ordered. 

The  House  then  decided  that 
the  main  question  be  now  put  — 
ayes  171,  noes  25. 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  then 
ordered  on  the  motion  to  recon- 
sider. 

The  question  was  taken  and 
decided  in  the  affirmative  —  aves 
102,  noes  97. 

So  the  House  agreed  to  recon- 
sider. 

The  question  then  recurring 
on  the  amendment  proposing  to 
reduce  the  duty  on  salt, 

Mr  McDuffie  modified  the 
amendment  so  as  to  defer  the  re- 
duction to  15  cents,  to  the  1st  of 
September,  1831,  and  the  reduc- 
tion to  10  cents,  from  and  after 
the  31st  December,  1832. 

The  debate  was  now  renewed, 
and  continued  with  unabated  ani- 
mation and  occasional  pungency 
during  several  hours. 

Messrs  Cambreleng,  Drayton, 
Barringer,  Angel,  Semmes,  Craig 
of  Va.  Jennings,  Wilde  and  Lea, 
advocated  the  amendment,  and 


TARIFF. 


157 


the  propriety  of  reducing  the 
duty :  and  Messrs  Spencer  of 
N.  Y.,  Mallary,  Storrsof  N.  Y., 
Irvin  of  Ohio,  Test,  Davis  of 
Mass.,  and  Reed,  opposed  the 
amendment  for  various  reasons  ; 
some  because  they  were  opposed 
to  the  reduction  as  impolitic,  and 
which  would  not  diminish  the 
price  to  the  consumer ;  others 
that  it  was  improper,  connected 
with  this  bill  ;  others  that  it  would 
put  the  bill  itself  in  jeopardy, 
though  they  were  not  opposed  to 
the  repeal  of  the  duty,  if  it  were 
an  unconnected  proposition.  For 
the  reason  last  mentioned,  Messrs 
Ramsay  and  Miller  stated  they 
should  vote  now  against  the 
amendment,  ahhough  they  yester- 
day voted  for  it. 

The  question  at  length  being 
put  on  the  amendment,  it  was 
negatived  by  the  following  vote  ; 
98  affirmative,  102  negative 

The  question  then  recurring  on 
the  substitute  to  the  original  bill, 
agreed  to  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole, 

Mr  Polk  called  for  a  division 
of  the  question  so  as  to  leave  for 
separate  decision,  the  section  con- 
taining the  amendment  respecting 
the  duty  on  iron  (the  9th,)  offered 
in  Committee  of  the  whole,  and 
after  some  explanatory  remarks 
by  Mr  P.  and  some  passages  be- 
tween him  and  Mr  Sterigere  on  a 
point  of  order, 

The  question  was  put  on  all 
the  sections  of  the  substitute,  ex- 
cepting that  above  mentioned,  and 
agreed  to  by  yeas  and  nays  — 
yeas  185,  nays  11. 

The  question  then  came  up  on 
the  amendment  of  Mr  Scott,  strik- 
ing out  the  provisos  in  the  9th 
section  of  the  bill. 
41* 


The  question  being  put  on 
striking  out  the  |)roviso,  it  was 
negatived  byyeas  and  nays — yeas 
36,  nays  140. 

Mr  Ciiilton  moved  to  include 
in  the  amendfnent  imported  iron 
'  used  for  axes,  hoes,  or  ploughs, 
or  for  any  other  purpose  of  agri- 
culture,' and  made  some  remarks- 
against  favoring  large  and  wealthy 
rail  road  companies,  and  refusing 
the  same  favor  to  the  poor  who 
labored  for  their  bread.  He  con- 
cluded by  asking  for  the  ayes  and 
noes  on  his  amendment,  but  they 
were  not  granted,  and  the  amend- 
ment was  negatived  —  ayes  57. 

Mr  Drayton  then  moved  to  add 
to  the  amendment  an  amendment 
providing  for  a  repeal,  after  De- 
cember next,  of  the  duty  laid  on 
imported  slates  by  the  tariff  of 
1828,  and  he  exhibited  a  number 
of  reasons,  and  several  facts  in 
support  of  his  amendment. 

Mr  Buchanan  made  a  state- 
ment of  facts  relative  to  the  abund- 
ant supply  of  slates  which  Penn- 
sylvania furnished,  to  show  the 
inexpediency  of  the  amendment. 

Mr  Carson  replied  to  Mr 
and  controverted  the  propriety  of 
allowing  a  profit  of  300  per  cent 
to  the  workers  of  slate  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  Mr  Hunt  and  Mr 
Ihrie  sustained  the  statement  of 
Mr  B.  to  show  the  capacity  of  the 
country  to  supply  plenty  of  slate, 
but  that  the  business  could  not  be 
prosecuted  without  the  protecting 
duty. 

It  being  now  after  8  o'clock,  a 
motion  was  made  to  adjourn 
but  negatived. 

Mr  Drayton  replied  to  all  the 
objections,  to  show  that  ihd  duty 
was  onerous  and  improper. 

The  question  being  then  put, 


15S 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  amendment  offered  by  Mr  D. 
was  rejected  —  ayes  55. 

Mr  Tucker  rose  to  move  an 
amendment,  that  after  June  next, 
the  duty  on  molasses  be  reduced 
to  five  cents  a  gallon.  He  con- 
fessed that  he  had,  when  the  ob- 
noxious tariff  law  of  1825  was 
before  the  House,  voted  for  the 
high  duty  on  molasses,  in  hopes 
of  killing  the  bill ;  he  thought  he 
could  make  good  come  out  of 
evil;  but  he  was  deceived.  He 
did  not  think  the  friends  of  that 
bill  would  swallow  the  molasses, 
but  he  was  disappointed.  As  he, 
however,  had  aided  to  put  on  the 
duty,  he  now  wished  to  try  to  take 
it  off,  and  he  asked  the  yeas  and 
nays  on  the  question  :  but  they 
were  refused  by  the  House  :  and 

The  amendment  was  negatived 
without  a  division. 

Mr  Drayton  then  moved  that 
after  the  30lh  of  June  next,  the 
same  duty  now  imposed  on  a  ton 
of  slates,  be  imposed  on  1000 
slates,  for  reasons  which  he  ex- 
plained ;  but  the  motion  was  nega- 
tived. 

The  question  was  then  put  on 
the  amendment  of  Mr  Scott,  to 
insert  the  9th  section,  which  was 
carried,  yeas  103,  nays  69,  and 
the  bill  ordered  to  a  od  reading, 
1 1 8  affirmative,  24  negative. 

On  the  13th  of  May  the  bill 
was  read  a  third  time,  and  the 
question  stated  —  '  shall  the  bill 
pass  ? ' 

Mr  Hall,  of  North  Carolina, 
made  a  few  remarks,  embracing 
his  objections  to  this  bill  and  to 
the  system  of  which  it  is  a  part ; 
and  stating  that  even  had  the  re- 
peal of  the  duty  on  salt  been  re- 
tained, much  as  he  desired  that 
measure,  he  could  not  have  voted 


for  the  bill.  He  called  for  the 
yeas  and  nays  on  its  passage,  and 
they  were  ordered. 

Mr  Tucker,  of  South  CaroHna, 
entered  pretty  largely  into  a  state- 
ment also  of  his  objections  to  the 
bill,  and  to  the  protecting  sys- 
tem. 

He  was  followed  by  Mr  Chil- 
ton, of  Kentucky,  who  argued 
earnestly  at  some  length  on  the 
same  side,  and  concluded  with  a 
motion  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table, 
which  was  negatived. 

Mr  Cambreleng  briefly  stated 
why  he  should  vote  for  the  bill, 
notwithstanding  his  repugnance  to 
some  of  its  provisions,  which  he 
deemed  improper,  but  which  he 
relied  on  the  Senate  to  rectify. 

The  question  was  then  put  on 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  de- 
cided in  the  affirmative  by  the 
following  vote :  127  yeas,  41 
nays. 

In  the  Senate  the  bill  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Com- 
merce, which  reported  it  with 
verbal  amendments,  and  on  the 
19th  of  May  it  was  brought  up 
for  consideration,  when  the  amend- 
ments were  agreed  to.  Mr  Cham- 
bers then  moved  further  to  amend 
the  bill  by  inserting  in  the  sixth 
line  of  the  third  section,  after  the 
word  '  article,'  the  words '  of  same 
price  in  the  invoice ; '  it  was  de- 
termined in  the  negative,  as  fol- 
lows :  yeas  1 8,  nays  24. 

The  bill  was  then  further 
amended  and  reported  to  the 
Senate ;  and  the  amendments 
being,  in  part,  concurred  in,  the 
bill  was  further  amended,  and  on 
the  question  of  engrossing  the  bill 
for  a  third  reading,  it  was  deter- 
mined in  the  affirmative  —  28 
yeas,  14  nays. 


TARIFF. 


159 


The  bill  was  then  sent  back  lo 
the  House,  where  the  amendments 
were  concurred  in,  and  the  bill 
being  sanctioned  by  the  President 
became  a  law. 

The  divisions  so  frequently 
taken  during  the  progress  of  this 
bill,  showed  that  a  strong  party 
in  the  House  was  in  favor  of  re- 
ducing the  duties  on  salt  and  mo- 
lasses, and  it  was  determined  to 
urge  these  subjects  on  the  con- 
sideration of  Congress.  As  many 
had  declared  their  willingness  to 
vote  for  a  reduction  of  the  duties 
on  these  articles,  but  had  inti- 
mated a  wish  to  have  the  subjects 
distinctly  presented,  separate  bills 
were  introduced  for  each  article. 
The  salt  duty  had  been  frequent- 
ly agitated  during  the  session, 
and  on  the  13di  of  May,  Mr 
Taliaferro  moved  a  resolution  to 
instruct  the  Committee  on  Ways 
and  Means  to  prepare  a  bill  to 
reduce  the  duty  to  ten  cents  per 
bushel,  and  after  September  30, 
1831,  abolishing  the  duty  al- 
together. This  resolution  was 
discussed  during  the  hour  allotted 
to  the  consideration  of  resolutions 
on  the  15thj  17th,  and  18lh  of 
May,  when  it  was  withdrawn,  the 
mover  having  been  informed  that 
the  Committee  had  prepared  a 
bill  on  the  subject. 

On  the  19lh,  accordingly,  Mr 
McDuffie,  from  the  Committee 
on  Ways  and  Means,  reported  the 
following  bill  : 

Be  it  enacted,  he,  That  the 
duty  on  salt  be  fifteen  cents  per 
bushel  of  fiftysix  pounds,  from 
the  31st  of  December  next,  until 
the  31st  of  December,  1831,  and 
after  that  time,  ten  cents  per  bush- 
el, and  no  more. 


The  bill  having  been  read,  Mr 
Earle  opposed  the  second  read- 
ing of  the  bill. 

The  question  being  put  — 
'  shall  the  bill  be  rejected  ?'  Mr 
Davis,  of  South  Carolina,  moved 
a  call  of  the  House,  which  was 
ordered. 

The  call  was  proceeded  in  un- 
til the  doors  were  closed,  when 
further  proceedings  were  dispens- 
ed with,  and  the  doors  were  open- 
ed. Mr  Miller  briefly  gave  his 
reasons  for  voting  in  favor  of  this 
bill. 

Mr  Davis,  of  Massachusetts, 
spoke  against  the  present  reading 
of  the  bill  a  second  time,  and 
pledged  himself,  if  it  were  post- 
poned, to  offer  a  resolution,  call- 
ing for  information  which  was  ne- 
cessary for  the  correct  action  of 
the  House.  He  moved  to  post- 
pone the  bill  till  the  first  Monday 
in  January. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  asked  for 
the  previous  question  —  yeas  92. 
So  the  call  was  seconded. 

Mr  Powers  moved  to  lay  the 
bill  on  the  table. 

On  the  call  of  Mr  Conner  the 
ayes  and  noes  w^ere  ordered  on 
this  question. 

The  question  was  then  taken 
and  decided  in  the  negative  — 
yeas  83,  nays  102. 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  then 
ordered  on  the  question  — '  shall 
the  main  question  be  now  put  ^ 
which  main  question  is  —  'shall 
the  bill  be  rejected 

The  question  was  then  taken, 
and  the  House  determined  that 
the  main  question  shall  be  now 
put  —  yeas  110,  nays  73. 

The  question  was  then  taken 
on  the  question  — '  shall  the  bill 


]60 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


be  rejected  ?'  and  decided  in  the 
negative  —  yeas  84,  nays  102. 

On  the  20tli  the  bill  was  read 
a  second  time,  when  Mr  King,  of 
New  York,  moved  that  the  bill 
be  committed  to  the  Committee 
of  the  whole  House. 

Mr  McDuffie  opposed  this 
course,  as  merely  going  to  pro- 
duce delay  and  a  defeat  of  the 
bill,  which  if  there  was  a  majority 
favorable  to  the  object  should  be 
acted  on  immediately  to  effect  its 
passage  this  session. 

Mr  Ingersoll  moved  that  the 
Committee  of  the  whole  be  in- 
structed to  amend  the  bill  so  as 
to  reduce  the  duty  on  molasses  to 
five  cents  per  gallon,  and  to  allow 
a  drawback  on  spirits  distilled 
from  foreign  molasses. 

Mr  Ingersoll  said,  if  there  was 
one  article  on  which  the  tariff  of 
1828  operated  unjustly,  it  was 
that  which  he  now  sought  to  re- 
lieve. The  injustice  of  the  double 
duty  imposed  on  molasses,  in 
1828,  would  be  very  generally 
acknowledged,  and  by  none  more 
frankly  than  those  by  whose  votes 
the  increase  was  efiected.  No 
man  would  now  deny  that  molas- 
ses was  loaded  with  a  heavy  duty 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the 
tariff  odious.  It  was  hoped  by 
the  Southern  gentlemen  who  voted 
it  in,  that  the  bill  v^ould  be  thus 
drugged  by  too  heavy  a  dose  to 
go  down.  In  that  they  were  dis- 
appointed, and  he  was  glad  to  see 
a  disposition,  which  had  been  ex- 
pressed on  a  lateoccasion,by  one 
of  those  who  were  in  the  vote,  to 
undo  what  had  in  that  respect 
failed  to  answer  the  object  intend- 
ed.   Mr  Ingersoll  felt  more  soli- 


citude on  this  subject  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  from  having  recently 
examined  with  care  the  report 
from  the  Treasury  Department, 
in  regard  to  the  commerce  and 
navigation  of  the  country  for  the 
past  year.  He  found  in  that 
document  that  our  trade  with  Cu- 
ba, the  island  from  whence  our 
greatest  importations  come,  had 
declined  nearly  a  million  of  dol- 
lars during  the  past  year  from 
what  it  had  usually  been.  The 
cause  of  this  decline  was  princi- 
pally to  be  attributed,  as  he  learned 
from  a  most  intelligent  resident  in 
that  island,  to  the  fact,  that  under 
our  present  heavy  duty  upon 
molasses,  taken  in  connexion 
with  the  expenses  of  freights  and 
casks,  the  islanders  could  not 
make  sales  of  the  article  to  us  to 
any  extent ;  and  they  now  actu- 
ally spread  over  their  land  and 
use  as  manure  immense  quanti- 
ties of  molasses,  which  they  would 
gladly  exchange  for  the  lumber 
and  breadstuffs  of  our  country  if 
we  would  but  let  the  trade  go  on. 
Are  gentlemen  aware,  said  Mr 
Ingersoll,  that  the  trade  with  Cu- 
ba is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
branches  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce ?  It  stands  on  the  list  next 
to  England  and  France  in  amount, 
and  strike  out  the  articles  of  cot- 
ton and  tobacco,  which  go  to 
these  countries,  and  it  will  exceed 
our  trade  with  both  nations. 
Nay,  sir,  as  a  market  for  our 
breadstuffs  it  is  more  valuable  to 
us  than  all  Europe.  It  is,  too,  a 
trade  in  which  every  section  of 
this  country  is  deeply  interested 
—  it  has  no  sectional  bearing.  It 
takes,  in  large  quantities,  the  rice 


TARIFF. 


161 


of  the  South,  the  lumber  of  North 
Carolina,  the  grain  and  beef  of 
the  West,  which  descend  the 
Mississippi,  and  find  there  ahnost 
their  only  foreign  market  —  the 
flour  of  the  Middle  States,  the 
corn,  meal,  lumber  and  live  stock 
of  New  England.  Besides  this, 
immense  quantities  of  our  manu- 
factured articles  find  an  outlet 
there.  Not  those  manufactures 
which  are  obnoxious  to  some 
parts  of  this  country,  but  those 
which  are  produced  in  the  work- 
shops of  our  mechanics  in  every 
State  of  the  Union  —  such  as 
hats,  leather,  carriages,  shoes, 
harnesses,  soap,  candles  and 
cabinet  furniture.  A  trade  like 
this  is  one  of  the  last  that  should 
he  shackled.  We  impose  heavy 
duties  on  European  goods,  be- 
cause we  cannot  barter  away  our 
breadstufFs  or  agricultural  pro- 
ducts for  them ;  but  here  is  a 
market  that  offers  to  take  every- 
thing that  you  will  send  —  it  in- 
vites to  it  every  interest  that  can 
be  named.  Why,  then,  cripple 
it  by  an  ungenerous  regulation  of 
your  own?  and  why  visit  your 
heaviest  tax  upon  the  humblest 
article  which  goes  into  the  con- 
sumption of  the  poorest  people  of 
the  country  ? 

Mr  Ingersoll  said  he  would  say 
a  few  words  as  to  the  proposed 
reduction  of  the  duty  on  salt,  as 
he  might  not  have  another  op]ior- 
tunity  to  give  his  reasons  for  the 
votes  he  had  given,  or  should 
give,  on  that  question.  The  salt 
trade  of  this  country  had  not 
been  correctly  represented.  We 
have  heard  much  of  the  salt  tax, 
as  bearing  severely  and  peculiar- 
ly on  the  poor  :  and  so  far  as  that 


was  the  case,  he  could  go  as  far 
as  any  man  in  extending  relief. 
But  there  never  was  a  time,  even 
when  salt  was  duty  free,  that  it 
could  be  had  cheaper  than  it  now 
can,  even  on  the  seaboard ;  and 
never  so  cheap  in  the  interior, 
near  the  extensive  salt  works 
which  have  grown  up  under  the 
operation  of  the  existing  duty. 
The  bulk  of  our  importation  of 
salt,  and  on  which  most  of  the 
duty  operates,  is  not  the  coarse 
West  India  salt,  used  to  pack  pro- 
visions, and  which  is  consumed 
principally  by  the  poorer  citizens, 
but  the  refined,  or  blown  salt,  as 
it  is  called,  which  we  import  from 
Liverpool,  or  other  ports  of  Great 
Britain.  The  value  of  foreign 
salt  imported  during  the  last  year, 
as  appears  by  the  Treasury  re- 
turns, amounted  to  714,618  dol- 
lars, of  which  467,213  dollars 
was  imported,  not  from  Turk's 
Island  or  from  any  West  India 
port,  but  from  England  and  Ire- 
land. This  kind  is  imported  prin 
cipally  in  its  refined  and  manu- 
factured state,  for  the  tables  of 
the  rich,  and  is  as  fair  a  subject 
for  revenue  as  any  one  that  can 
be  named.  He  should  be  op- 
posed to  reducing  the  duty  on 
this  refined  article  ;  ^but  would 
cheerfully  reduce  the  duty  on  the 
coarse  and  strong  West  India  or 
Turk's  Island  salt,  because  that 
was  used  by  the  poor,  and  goes 
largely  into  the  agricultural  ope- 
rations of  the  country.  Should 
the  amendment  which  he  now  of- 
fered prevail,  he  pledged  himself 
to  follow  it  up  by  another,  making 
a  discrimination  on  salt,  that  he 
thought  would  be  acceptable  to 
every  part  of  the  House. 


162 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Mr  Tucker,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  on  a  decision  upon  the 
bill  by  itself,  moved  the  previous 
question  ;  which  motion  being  se- 
conded by  a  majority,  and  the 
previous  question  being  sustained 
by  a  vote,  by  yeas  and  nays,  of 
98  to  96. 

The  main  question  was  then 
put,  viz :  '  shall  the  bill  be  en- 
grossed and  read  a  third  time  ? ' 
and  was  decided  in  the  affirma- 
tive by  the  following  vote  :  yeas 
103,  nays  87. 

On  the  27th  of  May  the  sub- 
ject was  again  resumed  and  the 
question  on  the  passage  of  the 
bill  being  stated,  a  motion  was 
made  by  Mr  Storrs,  of  New 
York,  that  the  said  bill  be  recom- 
mitted to  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means,  with  instructions  so 
to  amend  the  same  as  to  postpone 
any  reduction  of  the  duty  on  salt 
unxii  the  30th  September,  1831. 

Mr  Storrs  alleged  as  a  reason 
for  his  motion  that  he  wished  to 
give  the  State  of  New  York  time 
to  alleviate  by  her  legislation  the 
effect  of  this  measure  on  her  in- 
terest, and  to  adapt  her  policy  to 
a  change  which  would  inflict  so 
great  an  evil  on  her  pecuniary  in- 
terest. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  moved  the 
previous  question. 

Mr  Stanberry  moved  to  lay 
the  bill  on  the  table ;  on  which 
motion  Mr  Vinton  demanded  the 
yeas  and  nays,  and  they  were  or- 
dered. 

Mr  Potter  moved  a  call  of  the 
House. 

[At  this  moment  a  number  of 
the  Senators  coming  into  the  Hall, 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  Senate 
bad  adjourned ;  and  as  the  joint 


rules  of  the  two  Houses  provide 
that  *  no  bill  that  shall  have  pass- 
ed one  House,  shall  be  sent  for 
concurrence  to  the  other,  on  ei- 
ther of  the  three  last  days  of  the 
session,'  it  became  a  question, 
whether  it  would  be  worth  while 
to  pass  the  bill  under  considera- 
tion, inasmuch  as  this  was  the  last 
day  on  which  a  bill  could  be  sent 
to  the  Senate  for  concurrence, 
and  the  Senate  had  now  adjourn- 
ed.] 

Mr  Taylor  was  of  opinion  that 
as  the  Senate  had  adjourned,  it 
would  be  useless  to  pass  the  bill, 
as  it  could  not  be  sent  there  for 
concurrence. 

Mr  McDuffie  said  it  was  evi- 
dent that  the  Senate  had  by  inad- 
vertence overlooked  the  rule,  and 
had  adjourned  without  being 
aware  of  the  effect;  therefore, 
doubtless  something  would  be 
done  to  remove  the  difficulty,  as 
there  were  several  bills  which  it 
was  indispensable  to  pass.  He 
hoped,  therefore,  the  House 
would  go  on  with  this  bill  and 
pass  h. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  thought  the 
bill  could  be  sent  to  the  Senate, 
notwithstanding  it  had  adjourned. 
Suppose  the  Senate  was  not  to 
sit  two  of  the  four  last  days  of  the 
session ;  could  that  deprive  the 
House  of  the  benefit  of  all  the 
bills  which  might  be  passed  by 
it?  Sir,  said  Mr  B.,  the  Clerk 
of  this  House  can  deliver  this  bill 
today,  if  it  pass,  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Senate,  and  the  Senate 
can  tomorrow  take  it  up  and  act 
on  it,  although  it  be  not  in  session 
today  when  the  bill  goes  there. 

Mr  Vance  now  moved  that  the 
House  adjourn,  and  the  yeas  and 


TARIFF. 


1C3 


nays  being  demanded  by  Mr  La- 
mar, ihey  were  taken,  and  the 
motion  was  negatived  —  ayes  54, 
noes  127. 

Mr  Sterigere  moved  to  lay  it  on 
the  table,  and  the  motion  for  a 
call  of  the  House  was  ordered  to 
lie  on  the  table.  The  question 
was  then  taken  on  laying  the  bill 
on  the  table,  and  negatived  — 
ayes  83,  noes  99. 

The  previous  question  was  then 
seconded  by  a  majority  of  the 
House,  and  the  previous  question 
was  carried  by  yeas  and  nays, 
108  to  78. 

The  main  question  was  then 
put  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  and 
carried  in  the  affirmative  —  ayes 
105,  noes  84. 

So  the  bill  was  passed  and  sent 
to  the  Senate  for  concurrence. 

In  the  Senate  it  was  reported 
by  the  Committee  on  Finance 
without  amendment,  and  on  the 
29th  of  May,  on  motion  of  Mr 
Smith  of  Maryland,  the  Senate 
took  up  for  consideration,  as  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  bill 
entitled  '  An  act  to  reduce  the 
duty  on  salt'  —  yeas  25,  nays  12. 

Mr  Sanford  then  moved  to 
postpone  the  bill  indefinitely, 
which  was  negatived  by  the  fol- 
lowing vote  :  yeas  13,  nays  24. 

Mr  Silsbee  then  moved  to 
amend  the  bill  by  striking  out  all 
after  the  enacting  clause,  and  in- 
serting —  that  from  and  after  the 
20th  of  June,  18S2,  the  duty  on 
salt  shall  be  12  J  cents  per  bushel 
of  56  pounds,  and  no  more,  which 
was  negatived  by  the  following 
vote  :  yeas  14,  nays  20. 

The  bill  was  then  reported  and 
ordered  to  be  read  a  third  time  — 


yeas  24,  nays  15,  and  became  a 
law. 

The  bill  reducing  the  duly  on 
molasses  met  with  less  opposition. 
The  duty  itself  had  been  aug- 
mented in  reference  to  other  ob- 
jects, and  those  whose  votes  had 
contributed  to  that  result  were 
particularly  anxious  to  remedy  the 
evil  that  had  been  caused  by  their 
indiscretion  in  a  moment  of  an- 
ger. On  the  21st  of  May,  Mr 
McDuffie,  from  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  reported  a 
bill  to  reduce  the  duty  on  molas- 
ses to  five  cents  per  gallon,  and 
to  allow  a  drawback  of  four  cents 
per  gallon,  on  spirits,  distilled  from 
foreign  materials. 

The  bill  being  read  the  first 
and  second  time,  Mr  McDuffie 
moved  that  the  bill  be  engrossed 
for  a  third  reading. 

A  call  of  the  House  was  moved 
and  ordered,  but  suspended  be- 
fore the  Clerk  had  got  through 
the  roll. 

Mr  WicklifFe  moved  to  lay  the 
bill  on  the  table,  and  asked  for 
the  yeas  and  nays  on  the  motion, 
which  being  ordered,  the  question 
was  taken,  and  the  motion  decid- 
ed in  the  negative  —  ayes  56, 
noes  120 ;  and  the  bill  was  order- 
ed to  be  read  a  third  time  by  a 
large  majority. 

On  the  27th  of  May  it  was 
read  a  third  time  and  put  on  its 
passage. 

Mr  Barringer  moved  the  pre- 
vious question,  fearing  that  debate 
might  arise  on  the  bill  and  endan- 
ger it  by  delay. 

Mr  Vance  moved  to  lay  the  bill 
on  the  table,  which  was  negatived  ; 
and  the  previous  question  being 


164 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


seconded  and  agreed  to,  the  ques- 
tion was  put  on  the  passage  of 
the  bill,  and  decided  in  the  affir- 
mative, by  yeas  and  nays,  118 
to  60. 

So  the  bill  was  passed  and  or- 
dered to  be  sent  to  the  Senate  for 
concurrence. 

In  the  Senate  it  was  referred 
and  being  reported  without 
amendment,  it  was  on  the  29th 
of  May  ordered  to  be  read  a 
third  time,  and  passed  by  a  vote 
of  30  affirmative,  8  negative. 

The  attempts  to  reduce  the 
duties  on  these  important  articles 
at  last  proved  successful,  in  con- 
sequence of  each  subject  having 
been  presented  distinctly  and 
separately  to  the  consideration  of 
the  House.  A  bill  introduced  by 
Mr  McDuffie,  at  an  early  period 
of  the  session  (Feb.  5),  for  the 
same  purpose,  but  including  also 
a  reduction  of  the  duties  on  wool- 
len and  cotton  manufactures,  iron, 
flax,  hemp,  &,c,  was  refused  a  se- 
cond reading  and  laid  upon  the 
table,  107  yeas,  79  nays.  The 
House  evinced  its  determination 
to  keep  each  subject  of  considera- 
tion distinct  and  separate,  and  to 
avoid  a  renewal  of  the  intermina- 
ble discussion  concerning  the  ta- 
riff policy  on  abstract  principles. 
A  bill  to  reduce  the  duties  on  tea 
and  coffee  was  sustained  on  differ- 
ent grounds.  These  articles  did  not 
come  in  competition  with  any  do- 
mestic productions,  and  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  duties  was  advocated 
on  account  of  their  being  of  pri- 
mary necessity,  and  lower  duties 
being  more  confoifmable  to  the 
flourishing  condition  of  the  pub- 
lic finances.    A  bill  for  that  pur- 


pose was  reported  to  the  House 
on  the  5th  of  Febuary  from  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
and  after  being  twice  read,  it  re- 
mained on  the  table  until  the  14th 
of  April,  when  Mr  McDuffie 
moved  in  the  Committee  of  the 
whole  to  take  up  this  bill ;  which 
motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
bill  was  taken  up. 

On  motion  of  Mr  McDuffie,  the 
bill  was  amended  by  substituting 
a  specific  duty  of  two  and  a  half 
cents  a  pound  on  coffee,  instead 
of  the  ad  valorem  duty,  and  the 
period  for  the  commencement  of 
the  reduction  changed  from  June 
30  to  December  31,  1831. 

On  motion  of  Mr  McDuffie,  the 
bill  was  further  amended  by  sub- 
stituting a  specific  duty  on  the  va- 
rious teas  (amounting  generally 
to  about  half  the  former  duty), 
instead  of  an  ad  valorem  duty,  and 
the  period  for  its  operation  made 
the  same  as  that  on  coffee. 

Mr  Conner,  of  North  Carolina, 
then  moved  to  insert  a  clause  to 
reduce  the  duty  on  salt  to  ten 
cents  a  bushel. 

Mr  McDuffie  beseeched  his 
friend  from  North  Carolina  to  with- 
draw this  amendment.  The  mer- 
chants had  been  suffering  for 
years  for  this  bill ;  vessels  were 
now  coming  in  and  insolvences 
must  be  the  consequence  of  fur- 
ther delay.  The  amendment 
would  bring  up  a  tariff  discussion, 
and,  although  as  much  opposed 
to  that  whole  system  as  any  one, 
he  deprecated  bringing  up  the 
question  on  this  bill.  He  there- 
fore begged  the  gentleman  to 
withdraw  it. 

Mr  Conner,  not  apprehending 


COFFEE 

that  his  amendment  would  embar- 
rass the  bill,  and  deeming  it  a 
proper  opportunity  for  trying  the 
question,  he  declined  withdrawing 
his  motion. 

Mr  Barringer,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, then  moved  so  to  amend  the 
amendment  of  his  colleague  as  to 
make  the  reduction  of  the  duty 
on  salt  gradual  —  first  to  be  fif- 
teen cents  till  December  31, 
1832,  and  after  that  time  ten 
cents. 

The  question  being  put  on  the 
propositions  successively,  they 
were  both  negatived  by  large 
majorities. 

On  the  suggestion  of  Mr  Gor- 
ham,  and  after  some  explanation 
from  him,  the  bill  was  so  modifi- 
ed as  to  apply  to  teas  imported 
from  '  any  place  east  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,'  instead  of '  from 
China'  alone. 

Mr  Cambreleng  moved  to 
amend  the  bill  so  as  to  put  coffee 
on  the  same  footing  as  to  the 
privilege  of  being  deposited  in  the 
public  stores,  as  tea. 

This  motion  brought  on  some 
discussion  between  the  mover  and 
Messrs  McDuffie  and  C.  P. 
White,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
last  named  gentleman,  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  subject,  read  the  fol- 
lowing statement : 

Coffee  imported  in  1827, .  50,051,986  lbs. 
Exported,   21,697,789  lbs. 

Consumed,   28,354,197  lbs. 

Coffee  imported  in  1828, .  55,194,697  lbs. 
Exported,  ......  16,037,964  lbs. 

Consumed,   39,1 56,733  lbs. 

The  amendment  was  ultimately 
agreed  to. 

Mr  Pearee  made  an  unsuccess- 
15 


DUTY.  165 

ful  motion  to  insert  a  clause,  to 
allow,  after  a  certain  period,  a 
drawback  of  nine  cents  a  gallon 
on  rum ;  when  the  bill  was  re- 
ported to  the  House. 

On  the  20th  of  April  the  House 
again  took  up  the  bill  to  reduce 
the  duty  on  tea  and  coffee,  with 
the  amendment  reported  thereto 
to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

The  amendment  respecting  tea 
^vas  concurred  in. 

The  amendment  fixing  the  du- 
ty on  coffee  at  2y  cents  a  pound, 
after  the  31st  December,  1831, 
coming  up,  Mr  Semmes,  of  Ma- 
ryland, moved  to  amend  the 
amendment  by  striking  out  2^ 
cents,  and  inserting  one  cent  as 
the  duty.  This  duty,  Mr  Sem- 
mes said,  was  not  necessary  for 
the  revenue,  as  under  any  modi- 
fication of  the  tariff,  that  was  like- 
ly to  take  place,  the  revenue 
would  be  sufficient  to  pay  off  the 
national  debt  as  fast  as  it  became 
due,  and  as  the  article  did  not 
come  in  competition  with  any  do- 
mestic product,  the  duty  was  not 
necessary  for  protection.  Fur- 
ther, the  article  was  no  longer  one 
of  luxury,  but  had  become  one  of 
general  and  necessary  use,  and  he 
for  these  reasons  hoped  the  duty 
would  be  reduced  to  one  cent,  at 
the  lime  proposed,  and  ultimately 
abolished  altogether. 

Mr  Burges  suggested  the  pro- 
priety of  fixing  the  duty  at  two 
cents.  This  would  be  a  very 
heavy  reduction,  and  he  thought 
would  be  suflicient  for  the  pres- 
ent. 

Mr  Semmes  said  he  would 
vary  his  motion  so  as  to  striko  out 
the  two  and  a  half  cents,  and 
leave  the  blank  to  be  filled  with 


166 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


two  or  one  as  the  House  might 
decide. 

Mr  Ingersoll  advocated  the 
policy  of  gradual,  not  great  and 
sudden  reductions  of  duties.  This 
was  the  reason  why  the  Commit- 
tee of  Ways  and  Means  reported 
in  favor  of  two  and  a  half  cents, 
■which  was  a  reduction  of  one  half 
the  present  duty.  This  alone 
would  probably  take  off  a  million 
of  revenue  ;  and  with  the  reduc- 
tion on  tea  would  amount  to  a 
diminution  of  two  millions  of  reve- 
nue. The  best  and  safest  policy, 
he  argued,  was  a  gradual  reduc- 
tion of  duties.  He  feared  the 
amendment,  if  passed,  would  em- 
barrass, perhaps  defeat,  the  bill ; 
and  the  agitation  of  the  question 
so  long  before  its  passage,  had 
already  ruined  many  merchants. 

Mr  Semmeshad  abstained  from 
going  fully  into  the  merits  of  the 
question  when  he  offered  his 
amendment,  sup|X)sing  every  one 
was  ready  to  vote  on  the  subject. 
As  it  was  opposed,  however,  he 
would  offer  a  few  reasons,  more 
at  large,  in  favor  of  his  amend- 
ment. He  did  so,  and  avowed 
that  he  had  himself  been  in  favor 
of  a  total  abolition  of  the  duty,  for 
the  reasons  briefly  stated  above  ; 
but  had  yielded  to  the  suggestions 
of  some  members  who  were  prac- 
tical merchants,  and  who  thought 
the  total  removal  of  the  duty 
might  afford  opportunity  for  frauds, 
&;c,  and  he  had  accordingly 
agreed  to  keep  on  a  duty  of  one 
cent.  He  was  in  favor  of  repeal- 
ing the  duty  on  all  articles  which 
do  not  'come  in  competition  with 
domestic  productions. 

The  question  on  striking  out 
two  and  a  half  was  decided  in  the 
negative  —  yeas  70,  nays  81. 


Mr  Taylor,  of  New  York,  then 
moved  to  strike  out  the  half  cent, 
so  as  to  leave  the  duty  two  cents. 
This  motion  prevailed  —  ayes  96. 

Mr  Semmes  then  moved  to  in- 
sert an  amendment,  to  reduce  the 
duty  to  one  cent  at  the  expira- 
tion of  a  year  after  the  duty  of 
2  cents  should  go  into  operation  ; 
and  for  the  first  time,  asked  the 
yeas  and  nays.  They  were  or- 
dered, and  the  amendment  was 
agreed  to — yeas  108,  nays  70. 

Mr  Reed,  of  Massachusetts, 
next  moved  to  insert  a  clause  to 
reduce  the  duty  on  Cocoa  to  one 
cent  per  pound.  The  present 
duty  is  two  cents ;  and  Mr  Reed 
said  there  was  last  year  imported 
5,331,000  pounds.  The  com- 
mon price  is  only  five  cents  a 
pound,  so  that  the  duty  was  a 
high  one  in  proportion,  and  the 
article  entered  largely  into  the 
consumption  of  the  poorer  classes. 
He  would  not  argue  the  question, 
but  hoped  the  amendment  would 
prevail. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to 
without  a  division. 

Mr  Conner,  of  North  Carolina, 
now  renewed  his  motion  which  he 
had  made  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  modified  agreeably  to  the 
proposition  also  made  by  his  col- 
league (Mr  Barringer),  to  reduce 
the  duty  on  imported  salt,  first  to 
fifteen  cents,  and  at  a  stipulated 
period  thereafter  to  ten  cents  a 
bushel;  and  he  demanded  the 
yeas  and  nays  on  the  question. 

Mr  Barringer  spoke  at  consid- 
erable length,  and  with  earnest- 
ness, in  support  of  the  amend- 
ment. 

Mr  Gorham  was  opposed  to  try- 
ing this  often  debated  and  long 
contested  question  of  a  diminution 


TONNAGE  DUTIES. 


or  abolition  of  the  salt  duty  on 
this  bill,  which  was  of  great  im- 
portance, had  been  reported 
unanimously,  and  received  the 
general  assent  of  the  House,  and 
might  be  defeated  if  this  amend- 
ment prevailed,  or  was  again  de- 
bated at  large.  He  therefore,  for 
the  first  time  in  his  life,  moved 
the  previous  question  ;  but  with- 
drew it  at  the  request  of  Mr 
McDuffie,  who  avowed  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  salt  duty  as  one  of 
the  most  odious  and  oppressive 
features  of  the  system  by  which 
the  South  was  burdened  ;  but  if 
the  amendment  were  adopted,  it 
would  not  only  embarrass  the  bill, 
but  possibly  defeat  it.  He  hoped, 
therefore,  the  motion  would  be 
withdrawn,  and  not  force  a  resort 
to  the  previous  question,  especial- 
ly as  there  was  a  bill  to  come  up 
(which  he  named)  on  which  the 
motion  would  be  consistent  and 
proper. 

Mr  Conner  denied  that  the 
motion  would  embarrass  or  defeat 
the  bill,  because  if  there  was  a 
majority  for  the  amendment,  the 
same  majority  would  pass  the  bill. 
He  therefore,  for  this  and  other 
reasons  which  he  stated,  but 
could  not  be  distinctly  heard,  in- 
sisted on  the  amendment. 

Mr  McDufiie  then  moved  the 
previous  question,  which  was  se- 
conded by  a  majority  of  the 
House. 

Mr  Barringer  demanded  the 
yeas  and  nays  on  the  previous 
question,  which  were  taken,  and 
the  main  question  was  ordered  — 
yeas  107,  nays  75. 

The  main  question  was  accord- 
ingly put  (on  the  engrossment  of 


the  bill),and  carried,  and  the  bill 
ordered  to  a  third  reading. 

The  bill  was  accordingly  pass- 
ed the  next  day  and  sent  to  the 
Senate  for  concurrence. 

In  the  Senate  the  bill  was  pass- 
ed on  the  13th  of  May,  after  an 
inefiectual  attempt'to  insert  a  pro- 
vision, reducing  the  duty  on  salt, 
which  was  rejected,  20  yeas,  26 
nays. 

The  other  amendment  report- 
ed by  the  Committee  on  Finance 
not  being  important,  were  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Senate  and  concur- 
red in  by  the  House. 

A  bill  abolishing  the  tonnage 
duties  on  vessels  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  all  countries, 
where  the  discriminating  duties 
are  abolished  upon  vessels  of  this 
country,  was  brought  forward  in 
the  Senate,  and  having  passed 
that  body  without  much  opposi- 
tion received  the  sanction  of  the 
House  and  of  the  Executive,  and 
became  a  law. 

Other  measures,  proposed  with 
a  view  of  modifying  the  revenue 
system  were  left  for  future  con- 
sideration, or  laid  on  the  table  as 
visionary  and  impracticable. 

Among  the  former  of  these  was 
a  bill  proposed  in  the  Senate  to 
alter  the  terms  of  credit  on  cus- 
tom house  bonds,  with  an  ulti- 
mate design  to  establish  a  system 
of  cash  payments  of  duties. 

This  bill  passed  the  Senate  but 
remained  in  the  House  at  the  end 
of  the  Session  among  the  unfin- 
ished business. 

Among  the  latter  was  a  bill 
proposed  in  the  Senate  by  Mr 
Benton,  which,  like  the  advertise- 
ments of  quack  medicines,  had 


'168 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  catching  title  '  to  provide  for 
the  abolition  of  unnecessary  du- 
ties, to  relieve  the  people  of  six- 
teen miUions  of  taxes  and  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  the  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  commerce 
and  navigation  of  ihe  United 
States. 

Another  bill  of  the  same  class 
was  reported  in  the  House  by 
Mr  Cambreieng  from  the  Com.- 
mittee  of  Commerce. 

This  bill  proposed  to  vest  the 
President  of  the  United  States 
with  power  to  arrange  the  com- 
merce between  the  United  States 
and  other  countries  upon  the  fol- 
lowing footing  viz  :  Whenever  he 
should  be  satisfied  that  the  pro- 
duce and  manufactures  of  the 
United  States  could  be  imported 
into  any  country  at  a  rate  of  duty 
not  exceeding  thirty  per  centum, 
ad  valorem,  he  was  authorized, 
by  proclamation,  to  admit  twelve 
months  after  its  date  the  importa- 
tion of  the  produce  and  manufac- 
tures of  that  country  into  the 
United  States  at  the  same  rate  of 
duty. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  when 
this  bill  was  reported,  Mr  Cam- 
breieng moved  that  it  be  commit- 
ted to  the  Committee  of  the  whole 
and  printed. 

Mr  Mallary  called  for  the  read- 
ing of  the  bill;  and  it  having 
been  read,  he  said  it  would  be 
impossible  to  act  on  such  a  mea- 
sure at  this  session,  if  it  ought  to 
be  acted  upon  at  all ;  therefore, 
he  moved  to  lay  the  bill  on  the 
table.  At  the  request,  however, 
of  Mr  Cambreieng  he  withdrew 
the  motion  to  give  an  opportunity 
for  explanation. 

Mr  Cambreieng  said  that  the 


majority  of  the  Committee  on 
Commerce,  under  whose  direc- 
tions he  had  reported  this  bill, 
were  perfectly  aware  that  the 
sentiments  of  the  majority  of  the 
House  were  in  opposition  to  it  at 
this  time.  The  Committee  had 
directed  him  to  say  that  it  was 
not  their  intention  to  ask  for  its 
consideration  during  the  present 
session  —  perhaps  not  at  the  next. 
The  provisions  of  the  bill  arc 
novel  and  important,  and  require 
matured  deliberation.  All  that 
the  Committee  now  desire  is,  that 
the  measures  should  go  forth 
to  the  nation  —  that  it  may  be 
generally  understood,  and  that 
the  great  agricultural  interest  of 
the  country  should  determine  for 
themselves  whether  they  will  ex- 
change the  produce  of  their  farms 
for  the  merchandize  of  other 
countries,  on  terms  of  just  reci- 
procity. There  is  no  novelty  in 
the  principle  of  the  bill  —  it  mere- 
ly proposes  to  carry  out  the  rule 
of  reciprocity  which  this  Govern- 
ment has  acted  upon  ever  since 
the  war.  We  have  been  for  six- 
teen years  proposing  to  all  nations 
to  abolish  all  restrictions  on  naviga- 
tion —  we  have  been  proclaiming 
that  we  were  ready  whenever  they 
were,  mutually  to  exchange  pro- 
ductions on  reciprocal  terms. 
This  I  know  is  not  the  doctrine  of 
some  gentlemen  in  this  House, 
but  it  is  the  voice  of  two  thirds  of 
the  American  people.  They  are 
willing  to  exchange  the  vast 
amount  of  their  own  productions 
for  those  of  all  other  nations  who 
are  willing  to  receive  them  on 
terms  of  fair  reciprocity. 

Sir,  we  cannot  be  insensible  to 
the  contest  now  going  on  in  Eng- 


RECIPROCAL  POLICY. 


land  —  a  contest  between  the  de- 
mocracy and  aristocracy  of  that 
country,  similar  to  that  which  we 
now  see  in  this  country  —  where 
the  democracy,  who  are  crying 
for  cheap  bread,  are  oppressed 
as  the  democracy  cf  this  country 
is  by  the  aristocracy.    Sir,  what 
have  I  seen  in  this  House  ?  How 
were  tJie  tariffs  of  1824  and  18.28, 
passed  ?   Have  we  not  all  seen 
duties  voted  by  majorities  of  four 
and  five  votes  ?  Were  they  not 
carried  by  the  votes  of  those  who 
were  interested  directly  or  indi- 
rectly in  the  stock  of  cotton  and 
woollen  companies  —  of  members 
whose  patriotism  lies  in  the  pock- 
et —  who    imagined  that  their 
bankruptcy  or  prosperity  depend- 
ed on  the  vote  they  mi_g'ht  give 
Did  not  the  ultimate  fate  of  the 
tariff  of  1824  depend  on  the  cast- 
ing votes  of  the  Speaker,  given 
on  some  of  the  items  of  the  bill 
Yes,  sir,  I  say  there  is  in  this 
country  an  aristocracy  of  manu- 
facturing capitalists  who  would,  if 
they  could,  grind  the  democracy 
of  this  nation  to  ashes,  as  the  no- 
bility of  Great  Britain  would  the 
poor  laborer  who  cries  for  bread. 
Sir,  the  Committee  entertain  no 
delusive  hope  that  this  bill  will 
effect  the  policy  of  Great  Britain 
—  at  least  for  some  years  to  come. 
No  —  her  policy  in  relation  to 
grain  is  regulated  and  controlled 
as  ours  has  hitherto  been  here,  by 
those  who  are  deeply  interested 
in  perpetuating  monopoly.  The 
great   land    proprietors  of  the 
House  of  Lords  — -  the  hered  itary 
nobility  —  control  the  policy  of 
Great  Britain  by  their  votes.  It 
is  not  to  be  expected  that  a  ma- 
jority of  that  description  will  con- 
15* 


sent,  at  least  for  the  present,  to 

receive  our  grain  in  exchange  for 
British  productions.  Neither  is" 
it  probable  that  France  will,  for 
some  time  to  come,  reciprocate 
commerce  with  the  United  States 
on  the  equal  terms  proposed  by 
the  bill.  But  there  are  other  na- 
tions with  whom  a  beginning  may 
be  made.  Portugal  is  one.  We 
had  once  a  valuable  trade  with 
that  country  —  it  has  been  entirely 
sacrificed  by  the  unwise  restric- 
tions of  both  countries.  There 
are  in  our  commerce  with  that 
nation  no  conflicting  interests.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  a  treaty 
stipulating  commercialreciprocity 
might  be  formed  with  that  nation 
tomorrow,  by  which  we  should 
very  soon  enjoy  a  large  and  valu- 
able trade  with  that  country  in 
the  mutual  exchange  of  our  pro- 
ductions. There  are  countries, 
also,  in  the  North  of  Europe  with 
whom  reciprocal  arrangements 
might  be  made.  But  I  have  gone 
further  into  this  question  than  I 
had  intended  to  do. 

The  Committee  merely  pro- 
pose the  measure  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  House  and  of  the 
nation  —  the  laboring,  the  me- 
chanic and  the  agriculture  inter- 
ests of  the  country  —  they  have 
no  expectation  of  changing  the 
opinions  of  our  masters,  whose 
pecuniary  interests  are  involved. 
We  ask  nothing,  sir,  from  the 
majority  of  this  House,  but  what 
we  have  a  right  to  ask.  The  mi- 
nority has  its  rights  as  well  as  the 
majority.  They  have  a  right  to 
expect  parliamentary  courtesy 
from  the  majority  —  an  op})ortu- 
nity  to  be  heard  —  to  have  their 
measures  fully  and  fairly  debated. 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


—  an  open  and  an  honorable  con- 
test. This  new  course  of  arrest- 
ing measures  at  their  second  read- 
ing—  of  stopping  inquiry  and 
stiffling  debate,  is  not  only  extra- 
ordinary, but  alarming.  When- 
ever such  should  become  the 
practice  of  a  majority  of  the 
House,  he  should  consider  it  one 
of  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of 
approaching  dissolution.  We  do 
not,  I  repeat  it,  desire  to  go  into 
this  debate  during  this  session. 
Let  the  measure  go  forth  to  the 
nation  —  let  us  debate  it  at  the 
next  session,  and  then  let 
gentlemen  do  as  they  please  with 
it. 

Mr  Mallary  asked  what  was 
the  real  character  of  the  bill  pro- 
posed ?  It  is  a  measure  that  is 
intended  to  give  the  power  to  the 
President  to  control  the  great  in- 
terests of  this  country.  No  such 
power  should  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  any  one  man  Hving. 
*  The  gentleman  tells  us  that  the 
whole  manufacturing  interest  is  in 
the  hands  of  an  aristocracy,  who 
oppress  and  grind  to  dust  the  de- 
mocracy of  the  nation.  This 
shows  clearly  and  plainly  that  he 
knows  nothing  about  either  the 
aristocracy  or  democracy  of  the 
country.  I  say  that  the  great 
agricultural  interest  north  of  Ma- 
son's and  Dixon's  Hne,  and  a 
solid  proportion  South  of  it,  are 
in  favor  of  the  protecting  policy 
—  the  Tariff.  If  the  gentleman 
wants  to  find  friends  and  advocates 
to  that  policy,  let  him  go  into 
'  every  hamlet  and  house  in  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New 
England,  and  he  will  find  a  vast 
majority  in  its  favor.  Talk  of 
the  aristocracy  of  the  country ! 
It  is  the    real    democracy  of 


the  United  States,  who  arc 
the  friends  and  advocates  of 
the  protecting  system.  Not 
British  agents  —  Liverpool  mer- 
chants. Talk  of  aristocracy  ! 
The  farmers,  the  agriculturists, 
are  the  men  who  support  the 
Tariff.  They  well  know  that  the 
manufacturer  gives  a  market  for 
their  productions,  which  no  for- 
eign nation  allows.  If  our  farmers 
did  not  know  that  their  interests, 
their  salvation  did  not  almost  de- 
pend on  the  manufacturing  sys- 
tem, they  would  be  willing  to  give 
it  up.  Sir,  the  gentleman  openly 
avows  that  his  object  in  bringing 
this  bill  forward  is  not  for  discus- 
sion or  action  this  session,  and  per- 
haps not  the  next.  What  then 
is  his  intended  object  ?  Sir,  I 
think  I  know.  The  object  mani- 
festly is,  to  have  the  measure  hang 
over  our  protecting  policy,  in  ter- 
rorem,  like  a  portentous  cloud. 
It  is  for  the  purpose  of  scattering 
doubts,  and  fears,  and  apprehen- 
sions, among  our  manufacturing 
interests,  and  to  invite  foreign  na- 
tions to  press  down  upon  us  with 
all  their  power,  and  overwhelm 
our  system  of  national  indepen- 
dence. Sir,  I  cannot,  consent  to 
see  such  a  measure,  brought  for- 
ward under  such  auspices,  held  up 
to  terrify  and  alarm  our  own  coun- 
try, and  give  hopes  and  expecta- 
tions to  another.  The  gentleman 
says  he  does  not  expect  that  the 
bill  will  make  the  smallest  impres- 
sion on  England.  Make  no  im- 
pression on  England  ?  I  suppose 
the  gentleman  considered  England 
a  perfect  model  for  our  imitation  ; 
that  free  trade  was  her  motto,  and 
that  she  really  meant,  what  she 
had  published  to  the  world  !  that 
she  was  ready  to  throw  her  doors 


RECIPROCAL  POLICY. 


171 


wide  open  to  the  commerce  of 
all  nations.  He  tells  us  that  the 
measure  is  intended  to  help  the 
laboring  classes  of  England  — 
The  democrats  of  England  1  He 
says  they  are  crying  for  bread, 
and  he  wants  to  feed  them. 
His  feelings  are  all  engaged  for 
the  democrats  of  England.  Sir, 
I  am  for  sustaining  the  democrats 
of  the  United  States.  These 
English  democrats  have  but  little 
affection  for  their  brother  demo- 
crats this  side  of  the  water.  They 
are  hostile  to  our  prosperity. 
They  tremble  at  the  sight  of  a 
rising  manufactory  in  the  United 
States.  They,  hke  the  gentleman 
from  New  York,  would  like  to 
see  the  domestic  industry  of  this 
country  palsied,  prostrated.  The 
gentleman  says  the  bill  will  have 
no  operation  on  France.  We  all 
well  know  that.  France  minds 
her  own  business.  She  has 
adopted  the  protecting  policy ; 
and  all  the  arts  and  efforts  of  Eng- 
land cannot  divert  her  from  her 
own  independent  course.  But 
up  the  Baltic  we  can  have  free 
trade.  Pennsylvania  can  send 
corn  to  Dantzic  !  That  is  flatter- 
ing !  We  can  have  the  trade  of 
Portugal.  That  the  gentleman 
seems  to  suppose  would  be  every- 
thing to  us.  And  for  these  fan- 
cied benefits  we  are  to  invest  the 
President  with  the  most  extraordi- 
nary powers.  The  great  interests 
of  this  country  are  to  be  regulated 
by  the  caprice  or  policy  of  any 
nation  in  the  world,  and  the  Presi- 
dent compelled  to  execute  it.  I 
would  not  trust  the  power  he  pro- 
poses to  any  man.  This  is  a  sub- 
ject that  belongs  to  Congress ;  to 
the  representatives  of  the  people. 
Here  let  it  be  retained. 


But,  said  Mr  M.  the  gentleman 
declares  thatthe  bill  purposes  only 
reciprocity.  Let  England  put 
her  duties  at  thirty  per  cent  and 
we  will  do  the  same.  Thirty  per 
cent  on  flour  of  Ohio,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Why,  sir,  it  would  cost 
more  to  send  a  barrel  of  flour, 
worth  Jive  dollars,  in  the  New 
York  market,  to  Liverpool,  than 
it  would  cost  to  bring  one  thou- 
sand —  five  thousand  dollars  worth 
of  foreign  manufactures  into  this 
country.  The  difference  may  be 
five  hundred  per  cent  against  us. 
The  farming  interest  of  the  United 
States  will  not  be  deluded  by  such 
a  show  of  reciprocity. 

The  gentleman  tells  us  about  a 
tremendous  explosion,\i\\\e{neni\s 
of  the  tariff  policy  persist.  Sir, 
this  means,  in  plain  English,  re- 
bellion. Are  we  to  be  driven 
from  our  path  of  duty  —  from  the 
true  interests  of  the  country,  by 
threats  of  a  tremendous  explosion  ? 
Is  a  minority  on  the  floor  of  this 
House  to  tell  a  majority,  you  shall 
submit  to  our  will,  or  the  most 
dreadful  consequences  will  follow? 
For  one,  I  will  not  be  driven 
from  my  course  by  such  language. 
When  a  minority  can,  on  any 
question,  by  threats  and  menace, 
overawe  the  majority,  this  country 
must  be  reduced  to  the  most  ex- 
traordinary condition. 

It  is  worse  than  no  government 
at  all.  How  are  we  to  decide 
on  any  great  question,  whether  it 
relates  to  the  established  policy 
of  the  country,  or  to  any  new 
measure  presented  for  delibera- 
tion and  action?  Is  a  majority 
to  shrink  back,  give  way,  surren- 
der, when  a  minority  demands  a 
right  to  rule?  This  is  the  essence 
of  aristocracy.    In  plain  truth, 


172 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


sir,  if  Representatives  cannot  come 
here  and  exercise  their  own  inde- 
pendent opinions,  without  being 
awed  and  menaced  into  submis- 
sion by  those  who  may  happen  to 
differ,  the  Government  is  not 
worth  preserving;  its  republican 
character  is  gone. 

Mr  Wayne  then  rose  to  make 
some  remarks,  when  the  Speaker 
interrupted  him  by  stating  that  the 
Clerk  had  informed  him  that  the 
bill  had  received  its  second  read- 
ing, by  its  title,  which  fact  the 
Chair  had  overlooked,  and  the 
question  being  now  simply  on  the 
commitment,  it  precluded  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  merits  of  the  bill. 

Mr  Wayne  bowed  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  Chair ;  and  after 
some  under  conversation  between 
other  members. 

Mr  Gorham,  for  the  purpose  of 
opening  the  bill  to  discussion, 
moved  its  indefinite  postponement. 

Mr  Cambreleng  regretted  that 
he  had  not  on  this  occasion  the  pow- 
erful aid  of  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  —  he  remembered 
nine  years  ago,  when  the  House 
was  electrified  by  that  gentleman 
for  near  three  hours ;  and  he 
must  say,  that  he  heard  on  that 
day,  what  he  thought  then,  and 
still  thought  the  most  able,  elo- 
quent, and  convincing  argument 
he  ever  listened  to,  in  favor  of  the 
broad  principles  of  free  trade. 
He  hoped  that  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  would  vary  his 
motion  so  as  to  postpone  the  ques- 
tion till  the  first  Monday  in  Jan- 
uary next ;  when  he  was  not  with- 
out hope,  that  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  might  change  his 
opinions,  again  become  an  advo- 
cate of  free  trade ;  at  all  events 


give  the  friends  of  this  measure  a 
fair  opportunity  to  defend  its 
merits. 

Mr  Gorham  said,  the  gentleman 
from  New  York  must  think  him 
very  sincere,  if,  after  the  extrava- 
gant but  altogether  unmerited 
compliments  of  the  gentleman,  he 
still  persisted  in  his  opposition  to 
this  bill,  as  a  measure  of  the  most 
extraordinary  character  ever  pro- 
posed in  this  House.  Sir,  said 
Mr  G.  this  bill  contains  provisions 
which,  in  their  operation,  will  de- 
range our  whole  revenue  system, 
and  change  all  our  commercial 
relations  at  home  and  abroad,  in- 
troducing at  the  same  time  an 
endless  series  of  frauds  and  per- 
juries. It  transfers,  too,  to  the 
President,  almost  the  whole  con- 
trol over  the  commerce  and  rev- 
enue of  the  country.  If  practi- 
cable, which  I  doubt,  it  will  in- 
troduce a  principle  into  commer- 
cial policy,  mischievous  in  the 
highest  degree. 

In  the  first  place,  it  reduces  at 
once  all  duties  to  30  per  cent  ad 
valorem,  and  to  the  extent  of  that 
reduction  is  a  repeal  of  the  Tariff 
laws ;  not  indeed,  as  it  may  suit 
the  interest  and  convenience  of 
our  own  Government,  or  our  own 
citizens,  but  when  the  will  or  in- 
terest of  any  foreign  nation  may 
require  it.  The  mere  reduction  of 
duties  I  do  not  regard  as  the  worst 
aspects  of  this  part  of  the  bill. 
It  is  that  foreign  nations  are  to 
judge  for  us,  and  not  we  for  our- 
selves ;  that  all  specific  duties  are, 
with  regard  to  some  nations,  to 
be  charged  in  ad  valorem  duties, 
and  reduced,  while,  with  regard 
to  others,  they  are  to  remain  spe- 
cific, and  at  their  old  rate  ;  and 


RECIPROCAL  POLICY- 


173 


that  the  duties  on  articles  of  the 
same  kind  from  different  countries, 
are  not  only  of  different  rates, 
but  differently  estimated.  And 
then,  too,  what  numberless  frauds 
will  be  practised  in  fixing  this  30 
per  cent  ad  valorem,  by  appraise- 
ments without  end,  not  only  in 
our  own  ports,  but  in  those  of  the 
nations  which  may  come  into  this 
strange  and  novel  scheme  of  re- 
ciprocity ? 

Mr  Speaker,  time  does  not  per- 
mit me  now  to  say  anything  upon 
the  extraordinary  principle  of 
transferring  to  the  Executive  De- 
partment, as  this  bill  would  sub- 
stantially do,  almost  the  whole 
control  over  our  foreign  and  do- 
mestic commercial  relations.  Nor 
can  I  now  enumerate  one  half 
the  mischiefs  of  a  different  char- 
acter, which  would  result  from  the 
adoption  of  this  most  pernicious 
project.  A  single  instance  will 
serve  to  illustrate  its  effects  in  a 
hundred  other  cases ;  and  I  will  ask 
the  attention  of  the  House  to  only 
one  branch  of  commerce  —  the 
sugar  trade.  The  sugar  of  Lou- 
isiana is  now  protected  by  a  duty 
of  three  cents  per  pound  upon  the 
imported  article,  which  is  more 
than  a  duty  of  50  per  cent  ad  va- 
lorem. The  prosperity  of  that 
State  depends  in  a  great  measure 
upon  sugar  planting.  Now,  we 
bring  sugar  from  Cuba  and  oth- 
ers of  the  West  India  islands, 
from  South  America,  particularly 
from  Brazil,  and  from  the  East 
Indies,  places  wholly  independent 
of  each  other.  Should  this  bill 
pass  into  a  law,  some  one  of  these 
countries,  Brazil  probably,  (and  I 
believe  Brazil  alone,)  would  ac- 
cept our  offer  of  reciprocating  du- 


ties ;  and  what  would  be  the  con- 
sequence ?  the  sugar  of  Brazil, 
which  costs  but  four  or  five  cents 
per  pound,  would  come  here 
charged  only  with  a  duty  of  30  per 
cent  ad  valorem,  equal  to  a  duty 
varying  from  a  cent  to  a  cent  and  a 
half  less  than  half  the  present  duty. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  then, 
that  in  a  very  short  time  the  im- 
porter of  that  article  would  drive 
the  Louisiana  planter  from  his 
own  market.  The  ruinous  effects 
to  that  State  are  obvious ;  her 
prosperity  is  destroyed  at  a  blow. 
Nor  is  this  all :  Brazil  will  proba- 
bly a,2;ree  to  this  scheme  ;  but  Cuba 
and  Port  Rico,  being  dependen- 
cies of  Spain,  could  not.  The 
places  in  the  East  Indies  from 
which  we  bring  sugar,  from  the 
peculiarity  of  their  political  con- 
dition, could  not  or  would  not, 
adopt  it.  And  thus,  the  high  duty 
of  three  cents  on  sugar,  from  those 
places,  is  virtually  a  prohibition  of 
trading  with  them  ;  and  our  trade 
at  present  with  Cuba,  as  every  one 
knows,  and  particularly  in  sugar, 
is  one  of  the  most  flourishing  and 
important  branches  of  our  com- 
merce. Frauds,  too,  of  a  differ- 
ent character  from  those  I  have 
mentioned  would  be  resorted  to  ; 
England  and  France  would  not, 
indeed,  cannot  reciprocate  this 
rule.  But  they  would  be  very 
desirous  that  we  should  adopt  it 
with  other  nations  ;  because,  they 
could,  through  those  nations, 
derive  every  advantage  from  it, 
without  yielding  us  any  equivalent 
in  return.  Tliere  is  little  doubt, 
that  Hamburg,  Bremen,  and  all 
the  Hanseatic  towns,  Sweden  and 
Denmark,  and  perhaps  Holland  — 
some  if  not  all    these,  would 


174 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


^  agree  with  us.  The  course  of 
things  would  then  be,  that  British 
and  French  goods  would  be 
shipped  to  those  places,  and  eith- 
er there,  or  at  home,  so  mark- 
ed and  packed,  that  they  might 
be  imported  into  the  United 
States  as  Dutch,  Swedish,  or  Dan- 
ish goods,  at  the  reduced  duty. 
And  thus,  France  and  England, 
holding  firmly  to  their  restrictive 
system  towards  us,  would  enjoy 
through  other  nations,  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  total  relaxation  of 
our  system  towards  them. 

The  measure,  if  adopted,  is  a 
radical  change  in  our  revenue  sys- 
tem, and  all  our  commercial  rela- 
tions, and  cannot  but  be  followed 
by  the  most  pernicious  conse- 
quences. The  bill  is  strangely  en- 
litled,  a  *  bill  to  amend  the  naviga- 
tion laws  of  the  United  States,' 
yet  makes  no  reference  to  any  one 
of  those  laws,  and  contains  not 
one  word  about  either  ships,  ves- 
sels, or  navigation.  It  should  be 
entitled  '  a  bill  to  encourage  frauds 
and  perjuries,  disturb  the  revenue, 
and  embarrass  and  restrict  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States.' 
JVIr  G.  concluded  by  saying,  that 
he  had  been  surprised  into  this 
debate  ;  and  he  threw  out  those 
few  remarks,  the  suggestions  of 
the  moment,  to  show  the  impolicy 
and  ruinous  tendency  of  the 
measure. 

Mr  Wayne  said  he  had  two 
things  to  complain  of,  one  of  them 
in  common  with  the  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts  —  first,  he 
had  been  surprised  into  the  de- 
bate, and  then  he  had  been  sur- 
prised out  of  it. 

{Here  the  hour  expired,  and  the 
debate  was  arrested  for  the  day.] 


The  debate  thus  commenced 
was  continued  daily  during  the 
hour  allotted  to  the  consideration 
of  resolutions  and  reports,  until 
the  4di  of  May,  when  Mr  Cam- 
breleng  moved  to  postpone  the 
further  consideration  of  the  bill 
till  the  first  Monday  in  January 
next. 

This  motion  precludes  debate 
on  the  merits  of  the  bill. 

Mr  Bates,  who  had  desired  to 
enter  into  the  discussion,  request- 
ed that  the  motion  would  be  with- 
drawn, but  the  request  was  not 
complied  with.  Mr  Reed  gave 
some  reasons  why  the  further 
consideration  should  not  be  post- 
poned. 

Mr  Storrs,  of  New  York,  said, 
that  with  a  view  to  place  the  bill 
where  it  should  not  be  heard  of 
again,  he  moved  to  lay  it  on  the 
table. 

On  the  call  of  Mr  Cambreleng, 
the  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered 
on  the  question. 

The  question  was  then  put  and 
decided  in  the  affirmative,  yeas 
130,  nays  38. 

So  the  bill  was  laid  on  the 
table. 

In  addition  to  the  discussions 
growing  out  of  these  proposed 
bills,  extraordinary  efforts  were 
made  to  render  the  tariff  policy 
unpopular  by  highly  colored 
statements  of  its  injurious  effects 
upon  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 

The  navigation  oi  the  United 
States  was  asserted  to  be  in  a  de- 
pressed and  declining  condition ; 
while  that  of  Great  Britain  was 
declared  to  be  highly  flourishing, 
and  to  be  supplanting  our  vessels 
in  various  branches  of  trade  for- 


PROSPERITY  OF  COUNTRY. 


175 


merely  monopolized  by  them  — 
results  which  were  attributed  sole- 
ly to  the  ruinous  effects  of  the 
tariff.  These  fables  were  gravely 
published  to  the  world  in  a  report 
of  the  Committee  of  Commerce 
to  the  House,  and  being  circulated 
with  unremitting  industry,  gave  a 
momentary  alam  to  the  public 
mind,  and  great  cause  of  exulta- 
tion to  the  Edinburgh  and  Quar- 
terly Reviews.  Unfortunately, 
however,  for  the  predictions  and 
inferences  of  these  theorists,  com- 
merce was  prosecuted  with  re- 
doubled activity.  The  returns  of 
the  tonnage  engaged  in  foreign 
trade  showed  an  increase  in  1828 
of  65,449  tons  :  while  the  in- 
crease of  the  tonnage  employed  in 
the  coasting  trade  m  1828  was 
55,335  tons.  Thisincrease,  which 
was  not,  however,  to  be  attributed 
to  the  tariff,  entirely  disproved  the 
predictions  of  the  alarmists  ;  and 
the  fresh  impulse  given  to  trade, 
which  had  been  gradually  accom- 
modating itself  to  the  changes  in 
commerce  occasioned  by  the 
general  peace  in  Europe,  dissi- 
pated the  apprehension  of  the 
mercantile  class  and  reconciled 
them  to  the  modification  of  the 
revenue  system. 

While  commerce  evinced  such 
striking  evidence  of  its  advancing 
prosperity,  the  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  interests  gave 
equally  strong  proofs  of  their  be- 
ing favored  in  even  a  higher  de- 
gree. In  the  distant  West  the 
wilderness  was  rapidly  retiring 
and  giving  place  to  the  farms  of 


the  frontier  settlers ;  while  in  the 
older  sections  of  the  country, 
greater  attention  was  paid  to  cul- 
tivating the  soil ;  new  processes 
of  agricultural  and  more  conve- 
nient farming  implements  were 
introduced ;  the  breeds  of  domes- 
tic animals  were  improved,  and 
every  indication  afforded  of  the 
substantial  and  healthful  prosperi- 
ty of  a  class  so  indispensable  to 
the  existence  of  the  community. 
Still  greater  activity  was  evinced 
by  the  manufacturing  interest. 
The  water  fpower,  both  on  the 
small  and  greater  rivers  began  to 
be  in  demand  ;  and  while  large 
towns,  like  Lowell  on  the  Merri- 
mac,  were  suddenly  created  by 
the  wealth  of  capitalists  diverted 
into  the  manufacturing  business, 
single  factories  of  a  size  propor- 
tioned to  the  powerrof  the  fall 
on  the  smaller  streams,  gave  em- 
ployment to  the  neighborhood, 
and  furnished  a  domestic  market 
to  the  farmers  in  different  portions 
of  the  country. 

The  increasing  wealth  of  the 
community  was  also  exhibited  in 
public  improvements  of  a  perma- 
nent character,  to  facilitate  inter- 
nal communication  and  the  trans- 
portation of  produce  to^lmarket. 
Canals  and  rail  roads  were  com- 
menced to  connect  the  most 
prominent  points  and  places,  and 
more  was  effected  in  this  species 
of  internial  improvement  in  the 
United  States  within  the  last  five 
years,  than  all  that  had  been  pre- 
viously done  since  their  existence 
as  an  independent  nation. 


CHAPTER  VJ. 


Treasury  Report  for  1829.  — Appropriations  for  1830.  —  Sup- 
port of  Government.  —  Discussion  on  Bill.  —  Naval  Service.  — 
Marine  Corps.  —  Fortifications.  —  Engineer  Department.  — 
Military  Service,  —  Indian  Department.  — Massachusetts  Claim. 


The  annual  report  of  the  new 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  (Mr 
Ingham),  on  the  state  of  the 
public  finances  was  transmitted  to 
Congress  on  the  loth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1829. 

This  report  showed  a  balance 
in  the  Treasury,  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1829,  of  $5,972,435. 

The  actual  receipts  into  the 
'treasury  during  the  first  three 
quarters  of  the  year  1829  were 
estimated  at  $19,437,231,  viz: 

Customs,   17,770,745 


Lands,   972,059 

Bank  Dividends,    ....  490,000 

Miscellaneous,  ....  204,427 
Estimated  receipts  during 

the  fourth  quarter,    .    .  5,165,000 

Total  receipts,    ....  $24,602,231 

The  expenditures  during  the 
three  first  quarters  of  the  year 
1829,  were  estimated  at  $18,- 
919,114,  viz: 

Civil,  Diplomatic  and  Miscel- 
laneous,   2,482,416 

Military  service,  including; 
pensions,  fortifications,  In- 
dian affairs  and  internal  im- 
•  provement,  &c,    .    .    •    •  5,155,256 

Naval  service,  buildings,  &c,  2,565,979 

Public  debt,  8,715,463 

Estimated  expenditures  dur- 
ing the  fourth  quarter,  .    .  7,245,481 

Total  expenditure  for  1829,  $26,164,595 


Leaving  an  estimated  balance  in 
the  Treasury  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary, 1830,  of  $4,410,072. 

It  thus  appeared  that  during 
the  first  year  of  an  administration, 
which  was  elected  upon  professed 
principles  of  retrenchment  and 
reform,  the  expenditures  exceed- 
ed the  receipts  $1,562,364,  while 
Kthey  exceed  the  ependitures  of 
1828  by  the  sum  of  $675,281, 
and  the  expenditures  of  the  pre- 
ceding year  by  the  sum  of 
$3,507,83]. 

The  receipts  for  the  year  1830 
were  estimated  at  $23,840,000 
viz : 

Customs,  $22,000,000 

Lands,   1,200,000 

Bank  dividends,  ....  490,000 
Incidental  receipts,    .    .    .  150,000 

The  expenditures  at  $23,755,- 
527,viz : 

Civil,  diplomatic  and  miscel- 
laneous,  >   2.473,226 

Military  service,  &c.    .    .  5,525,190 

Naval  service,   4,257,111 

Public  debt,   11,500,000 

Leaving  an  estimated  excess  of 
the  receipts  over  the  expenditures 
of  $84,473. 

The  gross  amount  of  duties  ac- 
cruing during  the  first  three  quar- 
ters of  1829  was  estimated  at 


APPROPRIATIONS  1 77 


$21,821,500,  and  the  debentures 
for  drawbacks  during  the  same 
period  amounted  to  $3,059,060. 

The  amount  of  debentures  out- 
standing on  the  30ih  of  Septem- 
ber, 1829,  chargeable  on  the 
revenue  of  1830,  was  $1,111,- 
136. 

The  total  amount  of  the  public 
debt  on  the  1st  of  January,  1829, 
was  $58,406,418. 

Consisting  of  six  per  cents,  $16,279,822 
Five  per  cents,  including 

$7,000,000  subscribed  to 

Stock  of  United  States 

Bank,   12,792,000 

Four  and  a  half  per  cents,  15,994,064 

Tliree  per  cents,    .    .    ,  13,296,250 

Unfunded  debt,    ....  44,282 

The  payments  made  on  ac- 
count of  the  public  debt  durini^ 
1829  were,  on  account  of  interest, 
$2,563,994  ;  towards  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  principal,  $9,841,012, 
leaving  the  total  debt  on  the  first 
of  January,  1830,  at  $48,565,- 
406. 

The  Secretary,  besides  fur- 
nishing the  above  statements  con- 
cerning the  public  finances,  went 
into  an  examination  of  the  antici- 
pated demands  u[)on  the  Treasu- 
ry, and  came  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  duties  on  various  articles 
might  be  reduced  without  any 
detriment  to  the  public  service. 
Certain  regulations  were  also  re- 
commended to  prevent  frauds  on 
the  revenue,  and  the  erection  of 
public  warehouses  for  the  purpose 
of  storing  goods  entered  for  draw- 
back or  on  which  the  duties 
should  not  be  paid.  A  change, 
too,  in  the  credit  on  bonds  for 
duties  was  proposed,  so  as  to  per- 
mit the  purchasers  to  bond  the 
goods  instead  of  the  importer,  and 
to  make  the  term  of  six,  nine  and 
16 


twelve  months  the  average  terms 
of  the  credits  on  all  importations. 
Nothing  was  definitely  said  as  to 
the  propriety  of  the  tariff  policy, 
from  v.hich  the  sentiments  of  the 
administration  could  be  gathered. 
The  Secretary's  report  and  the 
necessary  estimates  having  been 
furnished  to  the  House,  it  devolv- 
ed upon  Congress  to  make  the 
necessary  appropriations  for  the 
public  service. 

As-  the  party  which  had  been 
so  clamorous  for  economy  and 
retrenchment  was  now  in  power, 
but  little  opposition  was  to  be  ex- 
pected to  those  appropriations, 
which  were  deemed  necessary  for 
the  ordinary  service  of  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  although  those  items 
during  several  years  past  had  fur- 
nished the  most  fruitful, topics  of 
deba!te.  It  t\'as  to  be  presumed 
that  a  reforming  party  would  con- 
fine the  public  expenditure  within 
the  proper  limits  ;  and  so  long  as 
no  extraordinary  drafts  were  made 
on  the  treasury,  there  was  no 
necessity  for  the  interference  ol 
those  who  were  not  ranked  among 
the  supporters  of  the  administra- 
tion. 

The  bills  providing  for.  the  re- 
spective branches  of  the  public 
service  having  been  reported,  on 
the  ITth  of  January,  1830,  that 
making  provision  for  the  revolu- 
tionary and  other  pensioners  was 
taken  up,  and  having  passed  both 
Houses  without  opposition,,  be-v 
came  a  law.  By  this  act  $1,^ 
157,961  were  appropriated  for 
pensions  for  1830,  and  $101,700 
for  the  arrearages  of  1829. 

The  bill  making  appropriations 
for  the  support  of  the  Government 
for  1830  was  taken  up  in  the 


178  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


House  on  the  9th  of  February. 
When  the  bill  was  before  the 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  Mr 
McDuffie  moved  to  fill  up  the 
blank  of  the  section  of  the  bill 
containing  the  appropriation  for 
the  contingent  expenses  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress  with  the  sum 
of  135,000  dollars. 

Mr  Wickliffe  moved  to  amend 
the  bill  by  adding  thereto  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs : 

To  defray  the  expenses  of 
printing  for  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress,  performed  by  the  public 
Printer  of  each  House,  agreeably 
to  his  contracts. 

Stationary,  book  binding,  fuel, 
newspapers,  post  office,  carpen- 
ters' work,  furniture,  repairs  to 
the  Senate  Chamber  and  Hall  of 
Congress  and  Rooms. 

Messengers  and  horses,  blank 
books  and  ruling  paper  and  books. 

Expenses  of  the  Police  of  the 
Capitol. 

Expenses  of  witnesses,  includ- 
ing officers'  fees,  for  summoning, 
&c. 

Expenses  of  engraving  maps 
and  surveys,  ordered  by  either 
House. 

Mourning  and  funeral  expenses. 

Hack  hire,  when  employed  in 
the  public  service. 

Extra  clerk  hire. 

Mr  Wickliffe  said  his  object  in 
proposing  this  amendment  was, 
to  confine  the  contingent  fund  to 
the  legitimate  expenses  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  and  for  that 
purpose  he  procured  from  the 
Clerk  of  the  House  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  different  items  of  ex- 
penditure for  the  last  session  of 
Congress,  which  are  all  embraced 
in  the  amendment. 

Mr  Coulter  opposed  the  amend- 


ment. He  said  it  would  be  inef- 
fectual to  accomplish  the  object  it 
professed  to  have  in  view,  inas- 
much as  from  the  very  nature  of 
contingent  expenses,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  enumerate  all  the 
articles  which  the  circumstances 
of  Congress  may  render  necessary 
hereafter.  He  also  said,  that  it 
implied  a  reproach  on  the  char- 
acter and  integrity  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  since  it  de- 
prived them  of  the  discretionary 
power  vested  in  the  other  depart- 
ments of  the  Government  to  man- 
age their  own  funds  as  their  exi- 
gencies may  require. 

Mr  Polk  supported  the  amend- 
ment. 

Mr  McDuffie  said  he  would 
have  no  objection  to  the  amend- 
ment of  Mr  Wickliffe  if  he  was 
certain  it  embraced  all  the  arti- 
cles of  the  contingent  expenses  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress.  He 
suggested  to  Mr  Wickliffe  to 
amend  his  proposition  by  reserv- 
ing the  sum  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars to  meet  expenses  which  may 
possibly  be  omitted  in  the  enu- 
meration he  has  made.  He  in- 
quired from  what  source  the  spe- 
cifications in  his  amendment  were 
procured. 

Mr  Everett  and  Mr  Ingersoll 
severally  opposed  the  amendment 
and  expressed  their  regret  that 
the  appropriation  bills  should  be 
thus  encumbered.  Mr  Ingersoll 
said  that  it  would  be  a  better 
mode  to  introduce  a  specific  bill 
embracing  the  objects  of  Mr 
Wickliffe's  amendment,  especially 
as  it  would  be  impossible  to  antici- 
pate the  contingent  expenditures 
of  both  Houses  of  Congress.  He 
asked  in  what  department  of 
Government    this  discretionary 


APPROPRIATIONS. 


179 


power  which  the  amendment  pro- 
posed to  take  away,  could  be  de- 
posited, if  not  with  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  ? 

Mr  Barringer  opposed  the 
amendment,  and  condemned  the 
practice  of  thus  attempting  to 
remedy  special  evils  by  general 
legislation. 

Mr  Ellsworth  and  Mr  Hunting- 
ton were  also  opposed  to  the 
amendment. 

Mr  Daniel  supported  it  at  con- 
siderable length. 

Mr  Wilde  opposed  the  amend- 
ment, and  said  that  the  object  of 
it  would  be  much  better  accom- 
plished by.  the  introduction  of  a 
distinct  bill  to  limit  the  expendi- 
tures as  proposed. 

Mr  Polk  suggested  to  Mr 
Wickliffe  a  modification  of  his 
amendment  so  as  to  meet  the 
views  of  Mr  Barringer  who 
expressed  his  disapprobation  of 
general  acts  of  legislation  for  par- 
ticular cases.  He  said  he  would 
make  such  a  motion  if  Mr  Wick- 
liffe would  not  accept  it  as  a 
modification  of  his  amendment. 

Mr  Wickliffe  replied  that  it 
was  not  in  his  power  to  comply 
with  the  request  of  Mr  Polk,  as 
the  amendment  he  offered  was 
not  at  his  own  instance,  but  pro- 
ceeded from  the  Committee  on 
Retrenchment. 

Mr  Polk  then  moved  to  amend 
the  amendment  by  adding  to  it 
the  following  words  : 

'  To  the  payment  of  the  ordi- 
nary expenses  of  the  contingent 
fund  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives :  Provided,  That 
no  part  of  this  appropriation  shall 
be  applied  to  pay  for  any  printing 
not  connected  with  the  proceed- 


ings of  either  House  of  Con- 
gress, and  executed  by  the  pub- 
lic printer,  unless  the  same  be 
authorized  by  a  joint  resolution,  or 
a  law  providing  for  the  same.' 

The  amendment  was  agreed 
to  —  yeas  55. 

After  a  few  observations]  from 
Mr  Taylor  the  amendment  as 
amended,  was  also  agreed  to  — 
yeas  65,  nays  61. 

Mr  Semmes  moved  to  amend 
the  bill  by  adding  the  following 
proviso  : 

'  Provided,  That  nothing  h.^re- 
in  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
prevent  any  expenditure  already 
authorized  by  either  House  of 
Congress.' 

The  question  on  this  amend- 
ment was  negatived  —  yeas  49, 
nays  53. 

Mr  Everett  proposed  to  amend 
that  part  of  the  bill  relative  to  the 
library,  by  adding  to  it  the  follow- 
ing words : 

*  For  the  library  of  Congress, 
5,000  dollars.' 

This  amendment  was  agreed 
to  —  yeas  56,  nays  49. 

After  some  further  amend- 
ments in  Committee  on  the  10th 
of  February,  the  bill  was  reported 
to  the  House  on  the  11th,  when 
the  question  being  on  agreeing  to 
the  amendments  of  Messrs  Wick- 
liffe and  Polk,  in  relation  to  the 
printing,  a  division  was  demanded 
and  the  vote  was  91  yeas,  68 
nays. 

The  question  recurring  on  the 
bill,  Mr  Wickliffe  asked  why  th 
appropriation  for  the  diplomatic 
service  was  greater  than  that  for 
the  last  year  ? 

Mr  McDufiie  replied  that,  un- 
til the  last  year  there  had  beea 


180 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


an  accumulation  of  unexpended 
balances,  which  being  expended, 
a  larger  sum  was  required  for 
this  year. 

Some  further  conversation  oc- 
curred, in  which  Mr  Ingersolltook 
a  part,  when  Mr  Verplanck  rose 
and  disclaiming  any  intention  to 
make  party  allusions,  stated  thai 
Mr  Adams  provided  liberally  for 
the  foreign  intercourse  during  the 
first  year  of  his  own  term,  hav- 
ing when  'Secretary  of  State, 
drawn  the  bills,  or  suggested  the. 
appropriations ;  there  being,  when 
hecamein,  a  large  unappropriated 
balance.    Notwithstanding  this, 
and  the  fact  that  his  own  political 
friends  filled  the  diplomatic.  de-. 
partment,  he  asked  for  two  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  thousand  dollars 
for  this  fund  during  his  first  year. 
The  year  after,  corresponding  to 
the  present  year  of  the  present 
administration,  he  asked,  for  one 
hundred  and  eightynine  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars ;  then  came  a 
call  for  forty  thousand  dollars  for 
the  Panama  Mission.    Making  a 
total  of  four  hundred  and  forty- 
two  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, deemed  proper  and  conve- 
nient to  be  used,  and  passed  by 
the  House,  during  the  two  first 
years  of  that  administration.  At 
the  close  of  that  administration 
there  was  on  hand  a  surplus  fund  to 
a  considerable  amount.  The  Sec- 
retary of  State,  with  a  laudable 
desire  to  do  up  his  business,'asked 
for  no  addition  to  the  surplus 
fund.    Under  these  circumstan- 
ces only  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  thousand  dollars  was  given 
for  contingencies. 

Certain  reasons  induced  the 
present  Executive  to  make  some 


recalls  ;  and  under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  hardly  wonderful 
that  some  additional  appropriation 
was  necessary.  The  administra- 
tion now  asked  two  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  dollars.  The  amount 
(be  presumed)  which  would  be 
called  for  during  the  two  first 
years  of  this  administration  for 
foreign  intercourse  would  be  three 
hundred  and  fortyseven  thousand 
dollars.  Makins;  a  difl^erence  of 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  favor  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration. The  administration 
meant  to  go  back  to  the  good  old 
act  of  1810  —  an  act  drawn  with 
more  than  usual  precision  — 
which  left  nothing  to  come  from 
the  contingent  fund.  There 
would  be  no  more  constructive 
embassies ' —  no  more  forty  thou- 
sand dollars  appropriated  for 
hunting  up  Congresses  which 
were  not  to  be  found ;  unless, 
indeed,  they  were  in  the  moon, 
or  in  that  other  place  described 
by  the  poet  as  the  '  receptacle  of 
things  lost  upon  earth.' 

Under  these  circumstances,  he 
presumed  the  Government  would 
get  along  the  two  years  for  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  less  than 
the  last  administration. 

Mr  Ingersoll  replied  that,  since 
Mr  Verplanck  got  up  to  put  me 
right,  he  has  put  himself  doubly 
wrong.  I  understood  him  to  say 
that,  during  the  two  first  years  of 
Mr  Adams'  term  two  hundred 
and  thirteen  thousand  dollars  were 
appropriated  for  the  foreign  inter- 
course. If  he  will  take  the 
trouble  to  look  into  the  statute 
books  he  will  see  that  the  sum 
was  but  one  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 


APPROPRIATIONS. 


181 


lars.  He  was  also  incorrect  in 
stating  the  sum  called  for  during 
the  last  year  of  Mr  Monroe's  ad- 
ministration. He  says  it  was  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
book  shows  that  it  was  but  one 
hundred  and  seventysix  thousand ; 
and  that  amount  was  not  expend- 
ed, but  was  faithfully  accounted 
for  by  the  honorable  gentleman 
then  at  the  head  of  the  State 
Department. 

The  gentleman  from  New  York 
threw  out  another  insinuation, 
when  alluding  to  the  extravagance 
of  the  administration  when  the 
late  President  was  Secretary  of 
State.  Is  he  aware  where  that 
leads  him  ?  The  appropriations 
then  were  liberal.  The  last  year 
that  Mr  Adams  was  Secretary  of 
State,  the  year  1824,  the  appro- 
priation was  one  hundred  and  for- 
tynine  thousand  dollars  —  liberal, 
but  not  more  liberal  than  the  pres- 
ent year.  In  the  year  1823  there 
was  but  seventyfour  thousand  dol- 
lars called  for  —  not  one  half  as 
much  as  is  asked  for  this  year. 
In  the  year  1822,  but  eightythree 
thousand  dollars  was  asked  for 
this  fund.  The  increase  was 
gradual  — the  public  history  ex- 
plained the  cause  of  the  increase  ; 
if  the  gentleman  from  New  York 
would  examine,  he  would  find 
that  the  expenses  were  not  more 
than  was  reasonable,  and  not  be- 
yond those  of  the  present  time. 
The  salaries  are  all  fixed  by  law, 
and  the  sum  to  be  called  for  is 
accordingly  ascertained.  In  my 
previous  remarks  I  made  no  inti- 
mation that  there  was  anything 
more  than  necessity  called  for  at 
present.  I  would  suggest  to  the 
gentleman,  however,  if.  in  refer- 
16* 


ring  to  abuses  which  have  hereto- 
fore existed,  it  is  worth  our  while 
to  run  into  those  which  we  have 
condemned  Are  we,  in  the 
first  year  of  reform,  to  do  the 
very  thing  we  have  once  censur- 
ed ?  It  appears  that  outfits  have 
been  taken  this  year  from  the 
contingent  fund.  1  do  not  com- 
plain because  they  do  this,  but 
because  they  do  now  what,  dur- 
ing the  last  administration,  they 
condemned. 

Mr  Buchanan  said,  he  did  not 
expect  the  House  would  get  into 
a  party  debate  upon  an  appro- 
priation bill.  He  did  not  think 
either  of  the  gentlemen  who  had 
spoken  had  taken  a  correct  view 
of  the  subject.  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted, in  the  regulation  of  foreign 
intercourse,  that  a  small  saving 
may  be  an  immense  loss.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  Executive  to  have 
the  foreign  intercourse  so  conduct- 
ed that  the  interests  of  the  country 
shall  suffer  no  loss.  It  could  not 
be  possible  that  the  wisdom  or 
folly  of  any  administration  was  ta 
be  tested  by  the  expenditure  un- 
der one  or  another  head  of  appro- 
priations. Statesmen  looked  at 
the  objects,  and  considered  what 
the  country  required.  I  was 
one  that  condemned  the  last  ad- 
ministration, not  on  account  of 
the  money  expended,  but  because, 
in  my  judgment,  they  expended 
it  in  violation  of  the  law  of  1810. 
That  system  had  grown  up  under 
one  President,  followed  by  the 
others,  until  outfits  were  charged 
for  appointments  made  abroad. 
There  had  been  appointments 
made  of  Ministers  about  to  return, 
converting  their  Secretaries  into 
Charges^  and  allowing  them  four 


182 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for 
outfits  ;  and  in  one  case  this  had 
been  done  only  to  return.  But 
this  was  a  question  for  the  people 
to  settle.  The  Executive  was 
competent  to  make  recalls,  and 
who  would  condemn  him  for 
using  his  discretion.  It  must  be 
an  extreme  case,  indeed,  for  the 
House  to  withhold  appropriations 
onabling  the  Executive  to  use  a 
discretion  which  he  was  at  liberty 
to  use.  The  people  would  decide 
whether  his  movements  were  ju  - 
dicious. 

Mr  Everett  said  that  he  agreed, 
with  the  gentleman  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  had  just  taken  his  seat, 
as  to  the  cause  of  the  increase  in 
the  appropriation.  That  gentle- 
man had  stated  it  to  be  the  recall 
of  several  of  the  foreign  ministers 
and  the  outfits  of  their  successors  ; 
and  it  was  evident,  from  the  com- 
parison of  the  bill  of  this  year  with 
the  appropriation  law  of  the  last, 
that  such  was  the  fact.  He  also 
agreed  with  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania,  that  the  recall  and 
appointment  of  Ministers  was  a 
matter  of  Execudve  discretion  ; 
and  that  it  was  only  in  an  extreme 
case  that  the  House  would  be  jus- 
tified in  interposing  to  withhold  an 
appropriation  for  the  outfit  of  a 
Minister  thus  appointed.  Mr  Ev- 
erett begged  to  recall  to  the  recol- 
lection of  the  House  the  manner 
in  which  this  debate  arose.  The 
gentleman  from  Kentucky  (Mr 
Wickliffe),  had  put  the  question 
To  llie  Chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Ways  and  Means,  why  the 
•appropriation  for  the  diplomatic 
service  of  this  year  amounted  to 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
dollars,  while  the  last  year  it  was 


but  one  hundred  and  thirtyseven 
thousand  ?  To  his  inquiry  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  had  replied  that, 
there  had  been,  previous  to  the 
last  year,  an  accumulation  of  un- 
expended balances  of  former  ap- 
propriations, which  had  rendered  it 
necessary  to  appropriate  less  for 
that  year  ;  but  that  these  surplus- 
es being  all  expended,  a  larger 
sum  was  required  for  this  year. 
With  great  deference  to  the  source 
from  which  this  statement  pro- 
ceeded, Mr  Everett  could  not 
agree  to  its  correctness.  He  did 
not  find,  in  looking  at  the  esti- 
mates from  the  Department  of 
State  for  1829,  that  there  was 
any  such  surplus  under  this  head 
of  appropriation. 

Mr  McDuffie  said  it  was  far 
from  his  intention  to  say  anything 
which  any  human  being  could 
construe  into  a  party  allusion. 
He  did,  in  reply  to  the  question 
of  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky, 
state  the  reason  that  the  balance 
of  the  fund  was  all  expended. 

Mr  Everett  said  that,  the  gen- 
tleman's explanation  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  own  view  of 
the  case,  and  he  was  about,  him- 
self, immediately  to  state  that,  the 
surplus  alluded  to  was  in  a  differ- 
ent fund,  for  which  no  appropria- 
tion at  all  was  made  in  1829  ; 
and  that  consequently  the  increase 
of  forty  thousand  dollars  in  the 
diplomatic  service  of  the  present 
year  over  the  last,  was  not  owing 
to  any  such  surplus  being  added 
to  the  appropriation  of  1829.  It 
was  an  increase  of  expenditure, 
owing,  as  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  stated,  to  die  re- 
call of  the  foreign  Ministers  and 


APPROPRIATIONS. 


183 


the  appointment  of  their  succes- 
sors. Supposing  this  matter  to 
be  now  understood  all  round  the 
House,  he  should  say  no  more 
about  it. 

He  must  however,  dwell  a 
moment  on  another  point  con- 
nected with  this  appropriation,  in 
which,  after  what  had  been  said, 
he  need  not  disclaim  being  a  vol- 
unteer. These  outfits,  to  the 
amount  of  over  forty  thousand 
dollars,  have  been  paid,  whhout 
any  specific  appropriation.  On 
the  contrary,  a  gentleman  from 
Georgia  (Mr  Wilde),  the  last 
winter,  proposed,  in  Committee 
of  the  Whole,  to  make  an  appro- 
priation for  the  outfits  of  Minis- 
ters who  might  be  appointed ; 
and  the  Committee  declined  mak- 
ing such  an  appropriation.  They 
passed  the  bill  as  they  found  it, 
with  specific  appropriations  for 
certain  designated  salaries  and 
outfits,  with  an  estimated  addition 
for  contingencies  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars.  This  looked  rather 
—  when  considered  in  connexion 
with  the  refusal  of  the  Committee 
just  alluded  to  —  like  excluding 
all  outfits  not  provided  for  in  the 
bill.  And  yet,  notwithstanding 
this,  forty  thousand  dollars,  in  out- 
fits, for  which  no  appropriation 
had  been  made,  have  been  paid 
during  the  past  summer. 

Mr  Everett  did  not  mention 
this  as  criminating  the  present 
administration,  but  as  vindicating 
the  past.  It  had  been  asserted 
and  reiterated  here  and  else- 
where, that  the  late  administra- 
tion had  improperly  paid  outfits 
out  of  the  contingent  fund  ;  and 
transferred  to  one  object  what 


was  specifically  appropriated  to 
another.  Now  here  we  have  forty 
thousand  dollars  expended  in  out- 
fits, without  any  specific  appro- 
priation ;  although  two  outfits,  he 
believed,  were  specified  ir\  the 
act  of  last  year.  From  what  fund 
the  money  was  taken  he  could 
hardly  tell.  That  part  of  the 
estimates  was  not  very  clear. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  a '  di- 
plomatic fund'  known  to  the  ap- 
propriation law.  The  sum  now 
asked  for  appears  to  be  asked  as  a 
repayment  of  so  much  taken  frona 
other  items.  Of  this  he  was  not 
disposed  to  complain;  but  he 
hoped  gentlemen  would  now  feel 
how  unjustly  the  late  administra- 
tion had  been  criminated  for  a 
course  so  soon  adopted  by  the  pres- 
ent, and  which  must  of  necessity 
be  adopted  by  any,  administration. 

Mr  McDuffie  replied  that, 
vi^hatever  other  people  had  said, 
he  had  made  no  such  charge 
against  the  late  administration,  nor 
had  he  said  such  appropriations 
were  wrong.  Whoever  made 
such  objection  could  not  under- 
stand the  subject. 

Mr  Everett  replied  that,  he  did 
not  maintain  that  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina,  individually, 
had  held  this  doctrine.  But  it 
had  been  distinctly  laid  down,  in 
the  reports  of  two  Committees  of 
the  House,  at  the  last  Congress, 
the  Committee  6n  the  Expendi- 
tures of  the  Department  of  State 
and  the  Retrenchment  Commit- 
tee. The  latter  Committee  had 
recommended  the  abolition  of  the 
fund  for  the  contingent  expenses 
of  the  Forfeign  Missions  on  the 
ground  that  it  enabled  the  Ex- 


184 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


eculive,  at  his  'discretion,  to  aug- 
ment tl)e  allowance  to  Foreign 
Ministers. 

Mr  Cambreleng  thought  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts 
must  have  confounded  the  Secret 
Service  Fund  with  the  Fund  for 
Foreign  Intercourse.  That  was 
the  only  fund  which  the  Commit- 
tee on  Retrenchment  proposed  to 
abolish. 

Mr  Everett  said,  I  am  not 
mistaken.  The  Committee  of 
Retrenchment  proposed  to  abolish 
the  fund  appropriated  for  '  the 
contingent  expenses  of  all  the 
missions  abroad,' as  the  gentleman 
from  New  York  would  find  by 
turning  to  their  report. 

Mr  Norton  said,  during  his  legis- 
lative life  he  had  always  voted  for 
the  largest  sum  reported  by  the 
Committee.  He  was  not  one 
who  expected  to  build  himself  up 
by  talking  of  retrenchment.  He 
did  not  feel  as  if  he  was  called 
upon  to  inquire  whether  the  sum 
received  was  large  or  small ;  he 
trusted  to  the  able  gentleman  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Ways  and  Means,  and  he 
should  vote  for  it  as  it  stood. 

The  bill  was  then  passed  and 
sent  to  the  Senate  for  concurrence. 

In  the  Senate  the  bill  was  taken 
up  on  the  4th  of  March  and  an 
amendment  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Finance  to  strike  out 
the  amendments  proposed  in  the 
House  by  Messrs  WicklifFe  and 
Polk,  in  relation  to  the  printing 
of  Congress,  became  the  topic  of 
discussion.  The  debate  was  inter- 
rupted by  other  business  and  post- 
poned to  the  next  day,  when  the 
bill  was  again  taken  up. 


A  division  was  called  for  by 
Mr  Barnard,  and  the  question 
was  taken  on  the  first  member  of 
the  sentence,  viz :  to  strike  out 
the  words.  Provided,  That  no 
part  of  the  appropriation  shall  be 
applied  to  any  printing  other  than 
of  such  documents  or  papers  as 
are  connected  with  the  ordinary 
proceedings  of  either  of  the  said 
Houses,  during  the  session,  and 
determined  in  negative  —  yeas 
22,  nays  23. 

On  the  question  to  strike  out 
the  residue  of  the  sentence,  viz  : 
and  executed  by  the  public  prin- 
ters agreeably  to  their  contracts, 
unless  authorized  by  an  act  or  a 
joint  resolution  ;  it  was  determin- 
ed in  the  negative  —  yeas  22, 
nays  23. 

A  motion  was  made  to  strike 
out  the  outfits  of  the  new  minis- 
ters appointed  since  the  4th  of 
March,  1829,  and  negatived  — 
yeas  3,  nays  39. 

Certain  unimportant  amend- 
ments were  then  made  in  the 
bill,  which  was  passed  and  sent 
to  the  House,  where  the  amend- 
ments were  concurred  in  and  the 
bill  became  a  law. 

By  this  act  the  following  ap- 
propriations were  made,  viz  * 

For  the  expenses  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Department,  includ- 
ins;  salaries  of  Vice  Presi- 
dent, all  the  Departments  at 
Washington  and  of  the  terri- 
torial governments,  .  $640,184 
Of  Diplomatic  intercourse,    .  248,500 

Of  Congress,   670,050 

Of  the  Judicial  Department,    .  243,023 

For  light-houses,  beacons,  &c.  231,103 

For  pensions,   1,750 

For  miscellaneous  expenses,  .  67,700 
For  taking  the  census  of  1830, 
in  addition  to  $350,000  for- 
merly appropriated,    .    .    .  250,000 


APPROPRIATIONS. 


185 


The  bill  making  appropriations 
for  the  naval  service  for  1830  was 
taken  up  on  the  23d  of  February, 
and  having  passed  the  House  was 
sent  to  the  Senate,  where  it  also 
jjassed  without  amendment  and 
became  a  law. 

This  act  appropriated  for  pay, 

subsistence  and  provision,  $1,978,666 


Repairs  of  vessels,    ....  590,000 

Medicines  and  hospital  stores,  30,500 

Ordnance  and  ordnance  stores,  30,000 
Repairs  and  improvement  of 

navy  yards,    180,500 

Gradual  increase  of  navy,  .  152,380 
Enumerated  contingencies  for 

1830,   250,000 

Non  enumerated  contingen- 
cies,   5,000 

Expenses  of  marine  corps  for  -  ■ 

1830,    ........  188,465 

Arrearages  of  marine  corps  for 

1829,   11,973 


Besides  the  appropriation  for 
arrearages  in  1829,  for  the  ma- 
rine corps,  a  law  was  also  passed 
for  the  arrearages  in  the  naval 
service  for  that  year,  appropria- 
ting 


For  pay  and  subsistence,  .  $136,923 
For  repairs  of  vessels,  .  .  .  82,841 
For  contingent  expenses,  .  .  30,392 
For  medicines,  &c,  ....  2,598 
For  marine  corps,     ....  16,757 


An  act  was  also  passed  for  re- 
pairing and  fitting  out  the  Frigate 
iirandywine,  appropriating  $92,- 
369  for  that  purpose. 

An  additional  sum  was  also 
appropriated  for  the  Marine  Corps 
the  last  day  of  the  session,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  determination  of 
the  new  fourth  Auditor  (Amos 
Kendall)  to  introduce  a  reform  in 
his  Department.  In  his  zeal  to 
do  this  he  refused  to  make  cer- 
tain extra  allowances  to  the  offi- 
■cers  of  the  Marine  Corps,  wliich 
had  been  habitually  made,  on  the 


ground  that  they  were  not  author- 
ized by  any  law. 

When  this  reform  was  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  Congress, 
a  joint  resolution  was  passed  di- 
recting those  unauthorized  allow- 
ances to  be  made  as  former- 
ly ;  and  on  the  last  day  of  the 
session,  upon  discovering  that 
these  allowances  had  not  been  in- 
cluded in  the  estimates  presented 
to  Congress  by  the  Department,  a 
law  was  brought  in  and  hurried 
through  both  Houses,  appropri- 
ating in  general  terms  a  sum  suf- 
ficient to  pay  those  extra  allow- 
ances. The  sole  effect  of  this 
reform  was  to  cause  great  distress 
to  the  officers  of  that  corps,  who 
were  curtailed  of  their  pay  for 
nearly  a  year,  and  finally  loose 
and  hasty  legislation  to  remedr 
the  evil. 

The  sum  formerly  appropriated 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade  was  reappropriated  at  the 
last  day  of  the  session  as  an  ex- 
penditure falling  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  Navy  Department. 

No  change  had  been  recom- 
mended in  the  policy  adopted  by 
the  Government,  to  gradually 
place  the  coast  in  a  state  of  de- 
fence by  fortifying  the  principal 
points  and  seaports,  and  the  bill 
appropriating  the  necessary  sums 
for  that  purpose  encountered  no 
serious  opposition. 

By  that  bill  the  following  sums 
were  appropriated  for  the  com- 
pletion of  fortifications,  viz  : 

For  Fort  Adams,  ....  $100,000 
"  "  Hamilton,  ....  86,000 
"  "  Monroe,  ....  100,000 
"  "  Calhoun,  ....  100,000 
"     «    Macon   60,000 


186 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—  30. 


Fort  at  Oak  Island,    ....  $60,000 

Fortifications  in  Charleston,   .  25,000 

at  Mobile  point,  90,000 

Jackson,    ,  .  85,000 

"             Pensacola,    .  130,000 
Contingencies  and  purchase  of 

a  site  for  a  fort,   15,000 

The  bill  making  appropriations 
for  the  Engineer,  Ordnance  and 
Quarter-master's  Department  was 
taken  up  in  the  House,  March 
30th  and  continued  under  exami- 
nation the  next  day  and  also  April 
first  and  fifth.  An  appropriation 
of  $150,000  for  arming  the  new 
fortifications  was  stricken  out  by 
the  House  —  yeas  130,  nays  43. 
A  motion  made  by  Mr  Crocket 
to  strike  out  an  appropriation 
of  2,500  dollars  for  erecting  a 
military  laboratory  at  West  Point 
was  negatived :  as  was  also  a 
motion  to  strike  out  an  appropria- 
tion for  a  military  road  in  Arkan- 
sas, and  one  for  the  purchase  of 
five  and  a  half  acres  of  land  in 
Springfield  for  the  use  of  the  na- 
tional armory. 

The  bill  was  amended  in  the 
Senate  and  the  House  concurred 
in  two  of  the  amendments.  From 
the  other  amendment  it  dissented 
and  the  Senate  receding  from  it, 
the  bill  passed  and  became  a  law. 

By  this  act  appropriations  were 
made 

For  barracks,  .f  69,064 

*'  store-houses,    ....  3,500 
armories  and  arsenals,    .    .  47,700 

roads,   49,452 

*'  miscellaneous,   44,421 

The  military  appropriation  bill 
for  1830  was  taken  up  on  the 
22d  of  February,  and  was  sanc- 
tioned by  both  Houses  without 
opposition.  It  made  the  follow- 
ing appropriations : 


For  pay  of  the  army  and  sub- 
sistence of  officers,    .    .  $1,063,909 

Forage  and  subsistence,    .    .  341,719 

Clothing,   156,774 

Medical  and  Hospital  Depart- 
ment,    .   28,000 

Quarter-master's  Department  407,000 

Military  Academy,  ....  24,163 

Contingencies,  10,000 

National  armories,   ....  360,000 

Armament  of  fortifications,  .  100,000 
Current  expenses  of  ordnance 

service,   56,000 

Arsenals,   90,000 

Recruiting  service,       .    .    .  8,377 

For  arrearages  prior  to  1817,  6,000 

"        of  1828,     .    .  270 

The  appropriations  for  the  In- 
dian service,  an  expenditure  un- 
der the  supervision  of  the  War 
Department,  for  1830  were. 

For  the  expenses  of  the  Indian 

Department,    .    .    .    •    .  $87,975 


For  presents  to  the  Indians    .    .  15,000 
Expenses  of  distributing  Indian 
annuities  and  of  holding  con- 
ferences with  them,     .    .    .  21,849 
Of  blacksmith  shops,  ....  23,766 
To  carry  into  effect  subsisting 

treaties,   143,799 

Expenses  in  holding  Indian  trea- 
ties,  14,022 


When  the  bill  appropriating 
these  last  items  came  under  con- 
sideration, Mr  Vance  moved  an 
amendment  to  the  clause  giving 
pay  to  Colonel  M'Neill,  so  as  to 
preclude  him  from  receiving  pay 
both  as  an  officer  of  the  army  and 
as  a  commissioner  to  hold  a  trea- 
ty with  the  Indians. 

Mr  Miller  asked  if  the  officer 
alluded  to  had  received  his  pay 
as  an  officer  and  was  about  to  re- 
ceive the  pay  as  a  commissioner. 

Mr  Vance  said  he  did  not  know 
the  fact,  but  he  knew  what  had 
been  the  practice.  The  officer 
now  at  the  head  of  this  govern- 
ment received  his  full  pay  as  an 
officer,  and  also  as  a  commission- 
er for  holding  treaties. 


SUPPORT  OF  GOVERNMENT. 


187 


Mr  Cambreleng  asked  if  there 
were  not  some  incidental  ex- 
penses. 

Mr  Vance  said,  that  could  not 
effect  the  item  under  considera- 
tion. 

Mr  Wickliffe  said  he  should 
vote  for  the  amendment. 

Mr  McDuffie  suggested  that 
General  M'Neill  should  have  his 
option,  either  to  take  his  pay  as 
an  officer  or  his  pay  as  a  com- 
missioner. 

Mr  Vance  then  modified  his 
amendment  so  as  to  make  its 
phraseology  correspond  with  the 
wishes  of  Mr  McDuffie. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 
The  bill  was  then  reported  to  the 
House,  when 

Mr  Miller  objected  to  the 
amendment  as  to  the  pay  of  Gen- 
eral M'Neill. 

Mr  Buchanan  also  took  excep- 
tion to  this  amendment,  on  the 
ground  that  however  just  the 
principle  that  the  Government  had 
an  undoubted  right  to  the  whole 
services  of  their  officers,  it  was 
not  correct  to  apply  the  principle 
in  a  case  where  the  officer  must 
have  accepted  the  duty  under 
the  implied  understanding  that 
the  old  practice  was  to  be  con- 
tinued. He  suggested  that  the 
Committee  on  Retrenchment 
should  report  a  bill  to  prevent 
these  double  allowances. 

Mr  Wickliffe  stated  that  the 
Committee  had  reported  such  a 
bill. 

Mr  Burges  spoke  in  favor  of 
the  amendment,  and  asked  gen- 
tlemen from  what  law  or  practice 
officers  received  extra  pay  for 
civil  services.  If  there  was  none 
such,  then  there  could  be  no  im- 


plied understanding  that  in  the 
present  case  such  would  be  the 
result.  He  stated  the  practice  to 
have  been  that  an  officer  who 
was  employed  in  the  civil  service, 
should  not  receive  pay  as  an  offi- 
cer at  the  time  that  he  was  re- 
ceiving pay  for  those  civil  services. 
There  was  a  rule  in  existence 
under  the  old  Congress  which 
prevents  such  double  pay ;  and 
no  gentleman  had  produced  any 
law  showing  a  contrary  practice. 
We  are,  however,  promised  a 
milennium  of  retrenchment ;  and 
so  we  had  been  promised  frorn 
year  to  year.  He  hoped  such 
would  be  the  case,  and  that  abuse 
after  abuse  should  not  be  permit- 
ted until  we  became  bankrupt  by 
precedent.  He  would  have  given 
this  officer  his  double  pay  if  such 
was  the  contract  made  with  him, 
but  not  under  the  idea  that  there 
existed  any  implied  understand- 
ing in  consequence  of  any  exist- 
ing law  tolerating  such  construc- 
tion. 

Mr  Polk  made  some  observa- 
tions in  reply,  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed himself  content  with  the 
amendment. 

Mr  Vance  disclaimed  any  idea 
of  introducing  party  feelings,  as 
was  intimated  by  the  last  gentle- 
man. He  thought  that  although 
he  did  not  belong  to  the  Commit- 
tee on  Retrenchment,  he  had 
supposed  he  might  offer  some- 
thing like  a  bit  of  retrenchment. 
He  stated  that  he  had  always 
been  an  enemy  to  those  double 
allowances  ;  and  had  determined 
to  take  the  first  opportunity  of  re- 
sisting them.  In  this  case  the 
officer  was  perhaps  less  entitled 
to  this  double  pay  than  any,  be- 


188 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


cause  he  commanded  a  post  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
these  Indians,  and  as  the  comman- 
der of  the  post  he  had  double  ra- 
tions and  extra  allowances.  He 
did  not  wish  to  introduce  party 
considerations.  He  had  indeed 
referred  to  a  distinguished  individ- 
ual who  had  received  double  pay  ; 
and  if  the  gentleman  wished  to 
dr^w  back  money  from  those 
who  had  received  double  allow- 
ances it  will  operate  as  severely 
at  head-quarters  as  anywhere. 
He  asked  for  the  yeas  and  nays 
on  this  question. 

Mr  Drayton  defended  the  prac- 
tice of  employing  officers  as  com- 
missioners to  hold  Indian  treaties, 
and  moved  to  amend  the  amend- 
ment of  the  gentleman  from  Ohio, 
by  striking  out  all  after  the  word 
'  that,'  and  inserting  words  which 
made  the  provision  general  and 
prospective. 

Mr  Vance  said  he  had  been 
asked  by  a  gentleman  from  Penn- 
sylvania if  this  had  been  the  prac- 
tice of  Government,  and  he  had 
risen  and  said  this  was  the  prac- 
tice, and  had  referred  to  the  only 
case  within  his  knowledge.  He 
wished  to  be  understood  as  hav- 
ing had  good  reason  for  his  refer- 
ence ;  and  if  he  had  misunder- 
stpod  the  exact  terms  of  the  in- 
terrogatories put  to  him  he  had 
merely  made  a  mistake,  and  he 
was  willing  to  have  it  attributed 
to  him  v^'hether  he  had  made  his 
remark  gratuitously  or  not. 

Mr  Grennell  replied  briefly  to 
the  remarks  of  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina,  as  to  the 
peculiar  propriety  of  employing 
officers  as  negotiators,  and  to  the 
idea  thrown  out  that  General 


M'Neill  had  entered  on  ihe  duties 
of.commissioner  under  the  implied 
understanding  that  he  was  entitled 
to  double  pay. 

Mr  Barnwell  made  some  re- 
marks in  favor  of  the  double  al- 
lowance to  General  M'Neill.  He 
contended  that  where,  by  an  er- 
roneous construction,  officers  had 
received  more  than  the  sums  to 
which  they  were  entitled,  it  was 
unjust  to  compel  him  who  had 
rendered  the  service,  to  refund. 
The  fault  is  in  those  who  have 
put  the  false  construction  on  the 
law,  and  who  alone  should  be  re- 
sponsible. 

Mr  Davis,  of  Massachusetts, 
rose  and  observed  that,  he  should 
not  detain  the  House  but  a  mo- 
ment, as  it  appeared  to  be  anx- 
ious to  take  the  question.  But 
he  would  join  the  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina  (Mr  BarnU'ell.) 
in  calling  attention  back  to  the 
real  ground  of  discussion.  The 
bill  provided  for  the  reimburse- 
ment of  money  paid  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive, where  no  appropriation 
had  been  made,  for  the  services  of 
an  officer  of  the  army  holding  by 
brevet  the  rank  of  a  Brigadier 
General,  who  had  served  as  a 
commissioner  in  making  a  treaty 
wid)  the  Winnebagoes  and  others. 
This  officer,  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment,  was  in  the  military 
service,  and  drawing  his  pay ;  and 
the  question  is,  whether  he  shall, 
in  addition  to  his  pay  as  an  officer, 
receive  also  the  pay  of  a  com- 
missioner. 

The  appointment,  he  said,  was 
not  a  military  command,  which 
the  officer  was  obliged  to  obey, 
but  a  civil  commission  which  he 
had  his  option  to  accept  or  de- 


INDIAN  BILL. 


189 


cline,  as  he  might  think  expedient, 
it  was  an  appointment  to  another 
service  of  a  totally  different  char- 
acter, and  to  be  rewarded  in  a 
different  manner.  He  accepted 
that  appointmRiU  and  performed 
the  service,  and  it  had  been  said 
that  the  Government  became 
ihereby  bound  to  allow  him  his 
p^y  as  a  military  oiiicer,  and  also 
the  same  amount  in  addition  as 
the  Other  commissioners  had  who 
served  in  but  one  capacity.  This, 
sir,  would  be  paying  for  service 
by  construction  —  because  no- 
thing is  more  plain  than  that  he 
would  not  render  service  to  the 
ihe  Government  in  both  offices. 

When  he  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment as  commissioner  and  enter- 
ed upon  the  duties,  he  ceased  to 
perform  all  duties  as  a  military 
officer  and  ihereby  ceased  to 
have  any  right  to  pay  unless  we 
mean  to  adopt  the  doctrine  that 
a  person  shall  have  pay  for  ser- 
vices which  he  does  not  and  can- 
not perform.  He  could  not,  he 
said,  bring  his  mind  to  the  belief 
that  the  Government  was  under 
any  legal  or  equitable  obligation 
to  make  such  an  allowance,  as 
the  service  as  commissioner  was 
the  voluntary  choice  of  the  officer, 
and  assumed  by  him  with  a  full 
knowledge  that  his  military  ser- 
vice must  cease,  and  therefore 
his  pay  ought  to  stop. 

It  has  been  said  that  prece- 
dents exist.  On  this  point  he 
observed  he  was  uninformed  :  but 
if  such  precedents  existed  it  was 
now  acknowledged  on  all  hands 
to  be  an  abuse,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  reason  why  the  injurious 
practice  should  be  further  coun- 
tenanced. This  officer,  by  his 
17 


own  election,  placed  himself  on 
the  same  ground  as  other  com- 
missioners, and  it  would  seem 
hardly  just  to  them  to  pay  him 
twice  as  much  as  they  receive 
for  their  services.  He  therefore 
hoped  the  amendment  of  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  (Mr  Vance) 
would  so  far  prevail  as  to  limit 
the  principle  to  those  bounds. 

Mr  Clay  suggested  to  the  gen- 
tleman from  South  Carolina  to 
withdraw  his  amendment  until 
the  other  amendment  should  be 
disposed  of. 

Mr  Drayton  withdrew  his 
amendment. 

Mr  Buchanan  then  stated  the 
case  of  General  M'Neill  and  ad- 
vocated the  propriety  of  his  ap- 
])ointment,  and  of  the  remunera- 
tion now  made  to  him  by  the  bill. 
The  money  had  been  received, 
as  appeared  on  the  face  of  the 
bill,  and  it  would  be  unjust  to  com- 
pel him  to  refund  it. 

Mr  Coulter  admitted  that  the 
President  might  employ  a  general 
of  the  army  to  negotiate,  and  it 
often  occurs  that,  in  consequence 
of  this  military  character,  he  is  a 
negotiator.  A  Governor  of  a 
State  is  often  employed,  but  a 
Governor  is  not  an  officer  of  the 
United  States.  A  military  officer 
in  the  pay  of  the  United  States 
has  no  claim  to  additional  com- 
pensation for  his  civil  service,  and 
if  he  has  received  double  })ay,  he 
cannot,  in  conscience,  retain  it. 
He  referred  to  the  case  of  Com 
modore  Decatur,  who  negotiated 
a  treaty  with  the  Barbary  Pow- 
ers. There  was  an  officer  em- 
ployed by  General  Washington  to 
negotiate  a  treaty.  He  was  allow- 
ed his  expenses,  but  not  double 


190 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


pay.  He  understood  that  the 
expenses  are  allowed  to  General 
M'Neill. 

Mr  Sutherland  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  allowance  in  the  bill  and 
against  the  amendment. 

Mr  J.  W.  Taylor  said  the  only 
question  is,  if  you  will  reimburse 
your  contingent  fund  the  money 
which  has  been  taken  out  of  it. 
If  you  do,  the  contingent  fund  is 
made  whole ;  if  not,  your  contin- 
gent fund  is  short.  It  is  not  a 
question  if  you  will  pay  General 
M'Neill.  He  has  received  his 
money ;  and  if  you  direct  the  law 
officer  to  institute  a  suit  against 
General  M'Neill,  the  general  will 
produce  the  commission  of  the 
President  —  prove  that  he  has 
done  his  duty,  and  no  court  will 
compel  him  to  refund  a  cent. 
He  thought,  therefore,  the  amend- 
ment irrelevant  and  would  vote 
against  it. 

Mr  Sterigere  now  called  for 
the  previous  question,  which  was 
seconded  by  a  majority  of  the 
House. 

The  previous  question  was  then 
put  and  carried  [which  supersedes 
all  pending  amendments,]  and  the 
main  question  was  put,  viz  :  on 
the  engrossment  of  the  bill,  and 
carried  —  yeas  84,  nays  52. 

The  sum  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  was  also  appropria- 
ted to  carry  into  effect  the  bill  pro- 
viding for  the  removal  of  the 
Indians.  An  account  of  this  bill 
has  already  been  given  in  chapter 
third. 

Certain  sums,  being  unexpend- 
ed balances,  were  also  reappro- 
priated 


An   appropriation   was  also 
made  for  the  partial  settlement 
of  a  claim  of  long  standing,  and 
which  involved  no  slight  political 
feeling.    This  was  the  claim  for 
the  services  of  the  militia  of  Mas- 
sachusetts   during  the  late  war 
with  Great  Britain.    This  claim 
had  been  objected  to  because  the 
Government  of  the  State  had  re- 
fused to  place  the  militia  under 
officers  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment ;  and  though  in  some  in- 
stances their  services  were  such 
as  to  render  the  claim  undenia- 
ble, yet  no  distinction  had  been 
made  between  the  different  class- 
es of  claims,  and  the  unadjusted 
account  had  hitherto  been  the 
subject  of  dispute.    Now,  how- 
ever, an  appropriation  was  made 
of  four  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  dollars,  for  the  payment  of 
all  claims  for  services  where  the 
militia  were  called  out  to  repel 
invasion,  either  actual  or  where 
good  ground  existed  to  apprehend 
it :  2d.   Where  the  calling  out 
was  recognised  by  the  Federal 
Government  :  3d.  Where  they 
were  called  out  and  served  under 
the  requisition  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  an  officer 
of  the  United  States. 

Appropriations  were  also  made 
for  the  internal  improvement  of 
the  country;  but  from  the  pecu- 
liar importance  which  this  sub- 
ject assumed  towards  the  close 
of  the  session,  it  is  deemed  proper 
to  treat  of  this  class  of  appropri- 
ations in  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Progress  of  Internal  Improvement.  —  Act  of  1824.  —  Opposition 
to  System. —  Course  of  Discussion.  —  President's  Opinion, — 
Orleans  and  Buffalo  road  hill.  —  Survey  bill.  — Discussion 
concerning  same.  —  Conditional  approval.  —  Maysville  road  bill ; 
Rejected  —  Discussion  on  Message.  —  Washington  turnpike 
bill;  Rejected.  —  Louisville  Canal  and  Light-house  bills  ;  Re- 
tained. —  Harbor  bill. 


Previous  to  the  accession  of 
Mr  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency, 
the  necessities  of  the  country  and 
the  demands  upon  the  public 
treasury  growing  out  of  the  debts 
of  the  revohition,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  government,  had 
prevented  the  application  of  any 
part  of  the  pubhc  revenue  to  the 
purposes  of  internal  improvement. 
No  question  was  made  as  to  the 
powers  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  make  such  application, 
because  more  urgent  demands 
upon  its  attention  had  prevented 
the  agitation  of  such  a  question. 

The  finances  of  the  country 
then  began  to  wear  a  more  pro- 
mising aspect  and  a  surplus  in  the 
treasury  left  the  Government  at 
liberty  to  attend  to  other  demands, 
besides  those  of  primary  neces- 
sity. 

The  difficulty  of  access  to  the 
great  western  wilderness  from  the 
want  of  roads  soon  forced  itself 
upon  the  attention  of  Congress, 


and  May  1st,  1802,  a  law  was 
passed,  making  appropriations  for 
opening  roads  in  the  Northwest 
territory.    This  was  the  first  ap- 
propriation made  by  Congress  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  during  Mr 
Jefferson's  administration,  it  was 
followed  up,  by  acts  making  ap- 
propriations for  roads  from  Nash- 
ville to  Natches,  from  Georgia  to 
New  Orleans,   and  other  roads 
within  the  limits  of  States,  be- 
sides appropriations  for  the  Cum- 
berland road,  and  for  roads  with- 
in the  State  of  Ohio,  under  the 
act  of  March  3d,  1803,  appropri- 
ating 3  per  cent  of  the  proceeds 
of  the  public  lands  in  that  State, 
for  the  purposes  of  internal  im- 
provement.    A  survey  of  the 
coast  was  also  authorized  and 
$50,000    appropriated  for  that 
object. 

A  report  was  also  made  to  the 
Senate  by  Mr  Gallatin,  in  answer 
to  a  resolution  moved  by  Mr 
J.  Q,  Adams,  in  1807,  which 


192 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


gave  a  general  view  of  the  sub- 
ject and  presented  a  digested  and 
systematic  plan  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  country. 

Under  that  administration,  the 
policy  of  internal  irnprovement 
by  the  General  Government,  may 
be  considered  as  having  been  com- 
menced, and  it  was  thenceforward 
prosecuted  with  more  or  less  ac- 
tivity according  to  the  state  of  the 
public  finances. 

During  Mr  Madison's  adminis- 
tration, the  ap])ropriations  for  this 
purpose  were  increased,  and  by 
the  act  of  May  11th,  1812,  a 
survey  was  authorized  of  the 
main  post  road  from  Robinstown 
in  M.aine,  to  St  Mary's  in  Geor- 
gia- ^ 

While  Mr  Monroe  was  at  the 
head  of  the  Government,  these 
appropriations  were  still  further 
augmented,  and  surveys  were 
ordered  of  the  interior  rivers,  and 
roads  were  opened  by  the  author- 
ity of  Congress  —  ail  indicating 
the  growing  prosperity  of  the 
nation  and  the  increasing  attention 
of  the  government  to  this  subject. 
A  check  was  indeed  given  to  the 
policy  by  the  veto,  which  Mr 
Monroe  in  1822,  put  upon  the 
bill  authorizing  the  collection 
of  tolls,  for  the  preservation  and 
repair  of  the  Cumberland  road. 
This  veto  was  founded  on  an 
opinion,  that  Congress  had  not 
a  complete  right  of  jurisdiction 
and  sovereignty  over  the  soil  for 
the  purposes  of  internal  improve- 
ment, which  he  considered  as 
distinct  from  the  power  to  make 
appropriations  for  that  end,  with 
the  consent  of  the  States,  through 
which  the  road  or  canal  should 
pass. 


In  this  opinion  the  President 
differed  from  his  cabinet,  and  al- 
though his  veto  was  sustained  by 
an  additonal  message,  setding 
forth  at  length  his  reasons  for  his 
opinion,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
he  subsequently  changed  his 
views  of  the  question,  as  the  ob- 
jects contemplated  by  the  acts  of 
April  30ih,  1824,  (to  which  he 
assented)  are  at  variance  with  the 
strict  construction  of  the  powers 
cf  Congress  contended  for  in  his 
veto  message. 

This  act,  which  appropriated 
$30,000  for  the  necessary  surveys, 
plans  and  estimates  of  such  roads 
and  canals  as  were  deemed  by 
the  President  of  national  impor- 
tance ;  and  also  authorized  the 
employment  of  the  engineer  corps 
in  that  service,  was  justly  regarded 
as  the  deliberate  adoption  of  a 
system  of  internal  improvement. 

It  was  indeed  only  an  initiatory 
step ;  but  the  direction  to  lay  the 
estimates  before  Congress,  plainly 
indicated,  that  it  was  the  intention 
of  the  Government  to  act  effi- 
ciently, and  that  in  the  belief  oi 
Congress  the  time  had  arrived, 
when  he  resources  of  the  country 
could  not  be  more  advantage- 
ously employed  than  in  improving 
the  channels  of  .communication 
between  different  portions  of  the 
Union.  The  engineer  corps  was 
accordingly  ordered  upon  that 
service,  and  Mr  Adams,  when  he 
assumed  the  office  of  chief  mag- 
istrate, intimated  his  determina- 
tion to  give  effect  so  far  as  fell 
within  the  sphere  of  the  Execu- 
tive Department,  to  the  recom- 
mendation of  Congress  ;  and  also 
an  entire  conviction  of  the  ex- 
pediency of  the  policy  and  the 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


193 


constitutionality  of  the  power. 
This  frank  exposition  of  his 
views  removed  a  difficulty,  which 
had  prevented  many  appropria- 
tions during  the  preceding  ad- 
ministration, and  Congress  took 
into  immediate  consideration  those 
plans  of  internal  improvement, 
that  were  deemed  of  the  most 
immediate  importance. 

During  that  administration,  ac- 
cordingly, more  appropriations 
were  made  for  that  purpose,  and 
a  greater  impulse  was  given  by 
the  Government  to  the  internal 
improvement  of  the  country,  than 
in  all  the  preceding  administra- 
tions. It  was  indeed  one  of  its 
distinguishing  characteristics,  and 
contributed  in  no  small  degree  to 
awaken  the  hostility,  whicli  was 
waged  against  it,  from  its  organi- 
zation. 

The  Representatives  from  the 
Southern  States,  excepting  South 
Carolina,  had  generally  evinced 
great  repugnance  to  the  exercise 
of  this  power  on  the  part  of  the 
General  Government,  as  one  not 
authorized  by  the  Constitution. 
All  power  vested  in  that  Govern- 
ment, they  argued,  must  be  either 
specifically  granted  by  the  Con- 
stitution, or  incidental  to  some 
power  specifically  granted.  No 
power  to  make  internal  improve- 
ment was  to  be  found  among  the 
specified  powers,  nor  was  it  in- 
cidental to  any  of  those  powers. 

Those  who  maintained  that  the 
power  existed  in  the  General 
Government  contended,  that  it 
was  derived  1st,  from  the  power 
to  establish  post  roads ;  2d,  from 
the  power  to  regulate  commerce 
between  the  States;  3d,  from  the 
power  to  make  and  carry  on  war, 
17* 


and  as  one  of  the  necessary  means 
to  construct  roads  and  canals  for 
the  transportation  of  troops  and 
munitions;  4th,  from  the  power 
to  lay  taxes  to  pay  the  debts  and 
provide  for  the  common  defence 
and  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States ;  5th,  from  the  power  to 
pass  all  laws  necessary  to  carry 
into  effect  its  constitutional  powers, 
and  6th,  from  the  power  to  make 
all  needful  rules  respecting  ihe 
public  territory. 

As  in  most  constitutional  dis- 
cussions, both  parties  were  fixed 
in  their  own  conclusions,  and  al- 
though those  who  denied  the 
power  were  invariably  overruled 
in  Congress,  they  were  no  less 
clamorous  in  protesting  against 
its  exercise  as  one  of  the  striking 
proofs  of  the  tendency  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  corrup- 
tion and  consolidation. 

The  question  of  the  expediency 
of  exercising  such  a  power  by 
Congress  was  also  strongly  ques- 
tioned, and  it  was  predicted  that 
it  would  be  productive  of  dis  en- 
sions  and  improper  combinations 
in  the  legislature ;  great  extrava- 
gance  in    the   expenditure  of 
public  moneys;  accumulation  of 
power  in  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, which  would  render  the 
State  Governments  mere  depen- 
dencies upon  its  generosity  or 
caprice,  and  that  it  would  place  at 
its  command  a  host  of  contractors, 
engineers,  toll  gatherers  and  su- 
perintendents, who  would  exer- 
cise a  control  in  the  local  elections 
incompatible  with  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  State  Governments. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  neces- 
sity of  these  improvements  ;  the 
inability  of  the  State  Governments 


194 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


or  of  private  associations  to  exe- 
cute them  ;  and  their  tendency 
to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  union 
were  eloquently  pourtrayed  ;  and 
it  was  aptly  replied  that  any  argu- 
ment drawn  from  the  danger  to 
the  independence  of  the  State 
Governments,  or  of  dissensions  or 
improper  combinations  in  Con- 
gress, or  of  extravagant  expendi- 
tures on  account  of  appropria- 
tions of  this  character,  was  just  as 
applicable  to  the  system  of  fortifi- 
cations or  to  any  appropriations 
for  local  objects  undeniably  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  General 
Government. 

That  the  subject  matter  of 
legislation,  if  within  the  constitu- 
tional power  of  Congress,  must 
be  left  to  its  discretion,  and  how- 
ever much  that  discretion  might 
be  abused,  its  abuse  did  not  ef- 
fect the  constitutional  question 
which  necessarily  depended  upon 
reasons  of  a  difierent  kind.  The 
remedy  for  an  abuse  of  power 
was  vested  in  the  people,  and  a 
sufficient  check  would  be  found  in 
the  periodical  elections  to  prevent 
all  tendency  to  extravagance  or 
corruptioti  in  the  exercise  of  a 
power  so  indispensable  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country. 

While  this  discussion  as  to  the 
expediency  and  constitutionality 
of  the  power  was  renewed  with 
unusual  animation,  during  Mr 
Adams'  administration,  the  oppo- 
nents of  internal  improvement 
seemed  to  have  forgotten,  that 
the  opposing  candidate  to  the  in- 
cumbent had  evinced,  while  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States 
quite  as  latitudinarian  opinions  on 
tills  disputed  point.  His  votes  on 
certain  bills   making  appropria- 


tions for  roads  and  canals  were 
not  only  in  favor  of  the  system  of 
surveys  as  established  by  the  act 
of  1824,  but  also  in  favor  of  sub- 
scriptions to  the  stock  of  private 
canal  companies  and  of  appropri- 
ations for  roads  within  the  limits 
of  particular  States.  This  he- 
terodoxy was  overlooked,  or  in- 
dulging in  the  hope,  that  the  con- 
stitutional principles  of  that  can- 
didate were  not  yet  definitely 
settled,  or  that  as  the  representa- 
tive of  a  reforming  party,  he 
might  be  induced  to  make  them 
more  conformable  to  their  own 
political  creed,  the  Southern  States 
and  those  of  the  same  party  in 
the  north  yielded  him  their  most 
ardent  support,  undaunted  by  the 
fact,  that  he  was  represented  in 
the  Western  and  Middle  States  as 
the  friend  of  internal  improve- 
ment and  that  these  votes  were 
appealed  to  as  conclusive  evidence 
of  his  sentiments.  His  inaugural 
message  gave  no  indication  x)f  any 
change  of  opinion,  but  simply 
advanced  the  oracular  proposition 
that  '  internal  improvement  and  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  far  as 
they  can  be  promoted  by  the  con- 
stitutional acts  of  the  Federal 
Government  are  of  high  impor- 
tance.' In  the  message  at  the 
opening  of  Congress,  he  first  man- 
ifested an  unwillingness  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  power  by  Congress  ; 
but  his  recommendation  of  an 
apportionment  of  the  surplus 
revenue  among  the  States,  as  a 
substitute  for  internal  improve- 
ment by  the  Federal  Government 
was  scarcely  regarded  as  a  mea- 
sure seriously  contemplated. 

As  the  session  advanced,  how- 
ever, the  divisions  on  the  passage 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


195 


of  certain  bills  authorizing  inter- 
i]al  improvements  began  to  indi- 
cate, that  no  support  of  these 
bills  could  be  expected  from  the 
more  confidential  friends  of  the 
Executive  and  that  the  cause  of 
internal  improvement  would  be 
left  chiefly  to  the  care  of  the  op- 
position. Many  however  who 
were  classed  among  the  supporters 
of  the  administration  were  staunch 
advocates  of  internal  inprove- 
ment  and  so  vitally  important  did 
they  deem  the  assertion  of  the 
powers  of  Congress  on  this  ques- 
tion, that  in  one  instance,  after  the 
rejection  of  a  bill  of  this  charac- 
ter by  too  strong  a  vote  to  hope 
lor  its  final  passage,  they  voted 
in  favor  of  its  reconsideration  to 
prevent  any  inference  being  drawn 
as  to  the  motive  which  influenced 
their  votes.  This  occurred  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  re- 
ference to  a  bill  brought  forward 
early  in  the  session  to  construct 
a  national  road  from  Buffalo  to 
New  Orleans. 

After  much  discussion  concern- 
ing this  bill,  on  the  14th  of  April, 
the  previous  question  was  called 
for,  and  the  House  decided  by  a 
vote  of  88  yeas,  150  nays,  that  it 
should  not  be  read  a  third  time. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  then  rose 
and  congratulating  the  House  on 
this  decision,  observed  that  it  had 
achieved  glory  enough  for  one 
day  and  moved  an  adjournment. 
This  observation  ofTended  many 
who  voted  against  the  bill,  as  it 
seemed  to  place  its  rejection  up- 
on the  ground  of  its  being  con- 
sidered unconstitutional,  whereas 
their  votes  were  given  simply  in 
reference  to  the  expediency  of 
making  this  particular  road. 


The  motion  to  adjourn  thus 
asked  was  accordingly  negatived, 
78  yeas.  111  nays,  and  the  next 
day  upon  motion  of  Mr  Spencer 
of  New  York,  the  House  deter- 
mined to  reconsider  the  bill,  99 
yeas,  91  nays.  As  it  was  not 
intended  to  press  the  passage  of 
the  bill,  a  motion  was  then  made, 
that  it  lie  on  the  table,  and  car- 
ried, 94  yeas,  88  nays. 

The  discussion  was  again  re- 
newed upon  the  consideration  of 
the  bill,  making  appropriation  for 
examinations  and  surveys.  This 
bill  was  taken  up  in  the  House  on 
the  25th  of  March,  when  on  mo- 
tion of  Mr  McDufHe,  the  House 
resolved  itself  into  Committee  of 
the  whole  on  the  state  of  the 
Union,  and  took  up  the  bill  mak- 
ing appropriations  for  examina- 
tions and  surveys,  &ic,  viz  : 

For  defraying  the  expenses  in- 
cidental to  making  examinations 
and  surveys  for  national  works 
under  the  act  of  30th  April,  1824, 
and  also  for  arrearages  on  account 
of  surveys  in  1826,  1827,  and 
1828,  30,000  dollars; 

For  completing  the  Cumber- 
land Road  from  Zanesville  to 
Columbus,  91,000  dollars; 

For  continuing  the  road  from 
Detroit  to  Fort  Gratiot,  7,000 
dollars  ; 

For  continuing  the  road  from 
Detroit  to  Saganaw  Bay,  7,000 
dollars ; 

For  continuing  the  road  from 
Detroit  to  Chicago,  8,000  dol- 
lars ; 

For  completing  the  road  from 
PensacolatoSt  Augustine,  10,000 
dollars ; 

For  completing  the  survey  and 
estimate  of  a  canal  to  connect  the 


196 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


waters  of  the  Atlantic  with  the 
Gulf  f   Mexico,  10,400  dollars. 

In  reply  to  a  question  from  Mr 
WicklifFe. 

Mr  McDufRe  said  that  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means 
had  determined  to  make  the  ap- 
propriation this  year,  but  there  was 
a  disposition  in  the  Committee  to 
discountenance  any  excess  of  ex- 
penditure on  these  objects. 

Mr  Hall,  remarking  on  the 
term  '  National  objects,'  asked  if 
there  was  not  a  national  object  to 
which  the  revenue  could  be  pro- 
perly and  beneficially  applied  ;  he 
meant  the  payment  of  the  national 
debt.  That  was  the  only  national 
object  in  his  view.  Mr  Hemphill 
stated  that  the  present  appropria- 
tion was  partly  required  to  com- 
plete surveys  already  commenced. 
He  thought  the  appropriation  of 
.f 30,000  insufficient :  and  moved 
to  add  $5000. 

Mr  Ingersoll  expressed  his  re- 
gret that  the  gentleman  from  Penn- 
sylvania had  moved  to  increase 
the  sum.  He  stated  that  it  had 
been  the  practice,  till  this  year, 
to  pay  the  arrearages,  as  well  as 
the  current  expenses  out  of  this 
30,000  dollars  ;  but  he  under- 
stood that  this  year  the  Depart- 
ment had  ordered  only  the  current 
expenses  out  of  the  30,000  dollars. 

Mr  Hemphill  withdrew  his 
proposition  to  amend. 

Mr  WicklifFe  moved  so  to 
amend  the  bill  as  to  confine  the 
appropriation  to  surveys  of  nation- 
al works  which  have  been  com- 
menced and  are  not  completed. 

Mr  Clay  opposed  the  amend- 
ment, the  object  of  these  surveys 
being  to  give  that  information 
on  which  Congress  may  found 
legislation. 


Mr  Mercer  also  expressed  his 
hope  that  no  sudden  impulse  caus- 
ed by  the  remarks  of  the  gentle- 
man from  Kentucky,  would  induce 
the  House  to  adopt  the  amend- 
ment. He  adverted  to  charges 
which  had  been  formerly  made  of 
improper  expenditures  in  these 
surveys,  charges  which  he  said 
had  never  been,  in  any  single  in- 
stance supported  by  anything  like 
a  plausible  argument.  He  instanc- 
ed the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio 
Canal,  to  show  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  not  subject  to  call  after 
call  for  the  same  object.  For  that 
canal,  which  the  Engineers  esti- 
mated at  eight  millions.  Congress 
had  subscribed  one  miUion.  No 
second  application  had  been  made 
and  he  would  say  further,  that  no 
second  call  would  be  made  on 
Congress  to  aid  the  eastern  sec- 
tion of  the  work,  estimated  at  eight 
millions.  He  stated  that  these 
surveys  are  made  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  knowledge ;  and  with- 
out that  knowledge  we  must  legis- 
late in  the  dark,  and  the  public 
money  would  be  wasted,  in  larger 
sums,  in  useless  discussions  as  to 
the  routes  of  roads  and  canals- 

Mr  Lea  suggested  to  Mr  Wick- 
lifFe, to  enlarge  his  proposition,  so 
as  to  include  all  objects  which 
may  be  recommended  by  either 
House  of  Congress. 

Mr  Ellsworth  thought  the  Hm- 
itation  unjust  and  unreasonable. 
If  there  are  objects  which  are  na- 
tional, yet  to  be  commenced,  it 
would  be  unjust  to  postpone  them 
because  they  had  not  been  begun. 

Mr  WicklifFe  accepted  the 
amendment  of  Mr  Lea  as  a  mod- 
ification of  his  amedment. 

The  question  was  then  put  on 
the  amendment  as  modified,  and 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


197 


decided  in  the  negative — yeas 
50,  nays  06. 

The  bill  having  been  reported 
to  the  House  was  again  taken  up 
on  the  31st  of  March,  when  Mr 
Wickliffe  moved  to  amend  the  bill 
in  the  clause  appropriating  money 
for  surveys,  by  adding  a  proviso, 
that  the  sum  appropriated  should 
be  expended  on  works  heretofore 
directed,  or  which  may  be  directed 
by  either  House  of  Congress. 

Mr  Ellsworth  expressed  a  hope 
that  the  amendment  would  not  be 
adopted.  He  reminded  the  House 
that  it  had  been  customary  to  pass 
an  appropriation  of  this  kind 
annually  ;  and  he  desired  that  it 
be  applied  on  the  usual  principle, 
diat  the  same  discretion,  which  had 
been  hitherto  given  to  the  proper 
department  in  the  disbursement  of 
this  money,  should  still  be  given  to 
them.  He  argued  against  the  pro- 
posed change  as  inexpedient,  un- 
just and  unreasonable. 

It  seemed  to  contemplate  that 
whenever  a  proposition  for  any  ap- 
propriation for  any  particnlar  work 
is  made,  the  subject  is  to  undergo 
a  discussion  in  this  House ;  and 
members  are  to  be  called  on  to 
decide,  with  the  superficial  know^- 
ledge  they  must  be  supposed  to 
possess,  on  the  preference  of  mak- 
ing a  survey  for  a  route  here^ 
over  that  for  a  route  there.  He 
hoped,  therefore,  that  the  amend- 
ment would  not  prevail. 

Mr  McDuffie  repeated  .the  ob- 
jections he  had  urged  against  this 
limitation  at  the  last  session,  when 
a  simxilar  proposition  was  negativ- 
ed by  a  vote  of  four  to  one.  If 
this  limitation  should  be  adopted, 
every  member  will  have  his  own 
peculiar  project  carried  through 


or  no  propositions  will  pass.  Com- 
plaint had  been  made  that  the 
works  begun  were  not  national, 
yet  it  was  proposed  to  compel  the 
Government  to  complete  them  in- 
stead of  taking  up  others  which 
might  be  national.  It  was  there- 
fore an  unreasonable  proposition, 
and  he  hoped  it  would  not  be 
adopted. 

Mr  Wickliffe  defended  his 
amendment  on  the  ground  gene- 
rally of  the  abuse  which  the  present 
mode  led  to,  the  unimportant  na- 
ture of  the  w^orks  which  it  enabled 
members  to  procure  to  be  under- 
taken, &:c. 

Mr  Martin  stated  that,  although 
opposed  to  the  system,  he  was 
still  more  opposed  to  the  amend- 
ment, in  its  present  form.  If 
the  system  was  to  be  continued, 
he  was  for  leaving  its  exercise 
where  it  was  now,  to  the  Execu- 
tive, end  to  keep  ibis  Huuiiu  a§ 
clear  as  possible  of  the  contention^ 
and  the  agitation  which  it  was  cal- 
culated to  produce  here.  He  then 
moved  to  amend  the  amendment 
by  striking  out,  '  or  such  as  may 
hereafter  be  directed  by  either 
House  of  Congress.' 

Mr  Trezvant  made  some  re- 
marks against  the  commitment  of 
a  discretion  to  the  Departments 
as  to  the  direction  of  any  surveys. 
He  wished  to  confine  the  appropri- 
adon  to  such  surveys  as  have  been 
commenced,  and  that  the  House 
should  afterwards  decide  on  the 
propriety  of  new  ones.  He  argu- 
ed at  some  length  in  explanation  of 
his  views,  and  hoped  the  amend- 
ment of  the  gendeman  from  South 
Carolina  would  not  be  adopted. 

Mr  Hall  opposed  the  whole  sys- 
tem, the  amendment  as  well  as 


198 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  bill  itself.  If  he  took  the 
amendment  of  Mr  Martin,  the  re- 
mainder of  MrWickliffe's  amend- 
ment would  contain  enough  to  in- 
volve all  his  principles.  He  could 
vote  for  none  of  the  questions  pro- 
posed. 

Mr  Mercer  suggested  that  many 
surveys  had  been  ordered  by  Con- 
gress which  have  not  yet  been 
commenced.  And  the  effect  of 
the  amendment  would  be  to  relieve 
the  Executive  of  all  responsibility 
whatever. 

The  amendment  moved  by  Mr 
Martin  to  the  amendment,  was 
then  negatived. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  suggested  a 
modification  of  the  amendment  so 
as  to  strike  out  the  words  '  either 
House  of,'  so  as  to  read  —  shall 
be  directed  by  Congress. 

Mr  Wickliffe  declined  to  ac- 
cept the  modification. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  then  moved 
his  proposition  as  an  amendment. 

Mr  Drayton  stated  that  his 
opinion  had  always  been  that  the 
act  of  1824,  authorizing  this  ex- 
penditure for  surveys,  was  uncon- 
stitutional. He  consequently  was 
opposed  to  all  appropriations  for 
these  objects  ;  but  he  was  in  favor 
of  the  amendment  for  reasons  he 
stated  —  the  chief  of  which  was 
that  it  would  tend  to  prevent  abuses 
in  the  execution  of  the  act,  and 
contending  that  works  beginning 
and  ending  in  the  same  State, 
could  not  be  deemed  national,  but 
many  such  under  the  present  sys- 
tem had  been  undertaken. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  enforced 
the  propriety  of  the  amendment 
he  had  offered.  The  vole  of  this 
House  is  the  vote  of  the  repre- 
.sentatives  of  the  people,  while 


that  of  the  Senate  is  the  vote  of 
the  representatives  of  the  States ; 
and  he  wished  to  unite  both.  He 
declared  himself  utterly  opposed 
to  the  whole  system,  and  every 
scheme,  surrey,  and  appropria- 
tion under  it. 

Mr  Mercer  advocated  the  pow- 
er of  the  Government  to  make 
these  surveys,  and  the  practice 
which  had  prevailed  under  that 
power,  denying  peremptorily  that 
it  had  led  to  any  abuses,  although 
the  allegation  was  so  often  repeat- 
ed, and  arguing  that  a  work  com- 
mencing and  ending  in  a  State 
might  be,  and  often  was  strictly 
national ;  many  cases  of  which  he 
cited  ;  among  others,  he  main- 
tained that  if  a  line  of  canals  from 
Maine  to  Georgia  was  a  national 
work,  any  part  of  that  line,  how- 
ever small,  is  national.  The  whole 
work  cannot  be  completed  at 
once ;  it  must  be  constructed  in 
detail  and  in  parts.  The  Buffalo 
and  New  Orleans  road,  he  con- 
sidered as  national,  whether  it  was 
cut  up  in  decimal  parts,  or  viewed 
as  a  whole.  He  said  he  had 
carefully  investigated  the  practice 
of  the  Department,  and  he  be- 
lieved it  to  be  free  from  abuse. 
Even  in  a  case  which  he  had  four 
years  ago  considered  the  most 
doubtful,  he  had  subsequently 
satisfied  himself  that  there  was  no 
ground  for  doubt.  To  objections 
on  the  score  of  local  interests  be- 
ing too  influential,  he  replied  that 
in  time  of  war  it  was  as  important 
a  power  which  regulated  the  di- 
rection of  an  army,  as  that  which 
gives  the  direction  of  a  road. 
The  western  part  of  the  State  of 
New  York  had  entirely  sprung  up 
under  the  fostering  influence  of 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT, 


190 


\he  late  war,  as  millions  had  been 
expended  there,  in  consequence 
of  the  march  of  troops  there. 
Yet  no  one  contended  that  in  that 
case  the  Government  should  be 
controlled  lest  the  local  interests 
of  one  section  should  be  preferred 
to  those  of  another. 

Mr  Ambrose  Spencer  stated 
that  the  question  as  to  the  power 
of  the  Government  to  make  these 
surveys,  was  settled  by  the  act  of 
1824,  and  that  it  was  useless  now 
to  make  it  a  subject  of  discussion. 
He  was  opposed  to  imposing  upon 
the  present  administration  a  Hm- 
itation  which  had  not  been  impos- 
ed on  their  predecessors.  He 
declared  himself  adverse  to  the 
amendment  to  the  amendment, 
as  well  as  to  the  amendment. 
He  expressed  his  concurrence  in 
the  views  which  had  fallen  from 
the  last  speaker,  and  controverted 
the  idea  that  works  confined  en- 
tirely to  particular  States  were 
necessarily  not  national,  cases  of 
which  he  cited. 

Mr  Irwin  of  Penn.  expressed 
his  hope  that  both  the  amend- 
ment of  the  gendeman  from  Ken- 
tucky and  that  of  the  gendeman 
from  Va.  would  be  rejected. 

Mr  Mallary  contended  that  it 
was  due  to  the  President,  who  is 
at  the  head  of  the  military  force, 
to  give  to  him  an  entire  command 
over  those  works  which  are  con- 
nected with  the  military  defence 
of  the  country.  He  could,  in  the 
exercise  of  that  power,  lead  to 
more  full  and  more  satisfactory 
results,  than  we  can  ever  be 
brought  to  by  listening  to  the  con- 
tending claims  of  conflicdng  inter- 
ests in  the  House.  There  was 
no  reason  for  imposing  this  limita- 
tion on  the  present  Executive. 


Mr  Barringer  said  the  adoption 
of  the  amendment  could  only 
lead  to  a  multiplication  of  surveys, 
and  he  argued  briefly  to  show  the 
inexpediency  of  the  amendments. 

The  amendment  to  the  amend- 
ment was  negatived  —  yeas  72, 
nays  96. 

.  The  question  was  then  taken 
on  the  amendment  of  Mr  Wick- 
lifFe,  and  decided  in  the  negative 
—  75  yeas,  111  nays. 

The  bill  was  then  ordered  to  a 
third  reading — ^121  yeas,  64 
nays,  and  having  been  passed  was 
sent  to  the  Senate  for  concur- 
rence. 

In  the  Senate,  it  was  amended 
by  two  additional  sections,  appro- 
priating $100,000  for  opening 
the  Cumberland  road  west  of 
Zanesville  ;  $60,000  for  contin- 
uing it  through  the  State  of  Indi- 
ana ;  $40,000  for  continuing  it 
through  Illinois;  and  $32,400 
for  opening  it  from  St  Louis  to 
Jefferson  City  in  Missouri,  and 
also  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  superintendence  of  that  road  in 
those  States,  upon  the  same  terms 
as  those  superintending  the  road 
in  Ohio.  These  amendments 
were  sanctioned  by  the  Senate ; 
yeas  26,  nays  16. 

An  appropriation  of  $15,000 
was  also  made  for  arrearages  on 
account  of  the  Cumberland  road. 

An  amendment  was  also  offered 
by  Mr  Dickerson,  to  strike  out 
the  appropriation  for  the  survey 
of  a  canal  between  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  the  Adantic.  This 
was  rejected,  15  yeas,  31  nays, 
and  the  bill  was  passed  the  next 
day  (April  17th)  26  yeas,  17 
nays. 

In  the  House  the  amendments 
were  concurred  in  except  those 


200 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


providing  for  the  continuation  of 
the  Cumberland  road  from  St 
Louis  to  Jefferson  City.  Those 
parts  were  stricken  out  in  the 
House,  on  the  29th  of  May,  and 
the  Senate  having  concurred,  the 
bill  was  sent  to  the  President  for 
his  sanction. 

He  had  now  taken  his  stand  on 
the  question  of  internal  improve- 
ment —  (the  message  rejecting 
ihe  bill  for  constructing  the  Mays- 
ville  road,  having  been  transmitted 
on  the  27th  of  May,)  —  and 
having  there  set  up  certain  dis- 
tinctions between  national  and  lo- 
cal improvements,  to  justify  his  re- 
jection of  that  bill,  he  undertook 
to  approve  of  this  bill  with  a  quali- 
fication. This  qualification  con- 
sisted in  a  reference  to  a  message 
sent  to  the  House,  together  with 
the  bill,  wherein  he  declared  that 
as  the  section  appropriated  .$8000 
for  the  road  from  Detroit  to  Chi- 
cago might  be  construed  to  au- 
thorize the  application  of  the  ap- 
propriation to  continue  the  road 
beyond  the  territory  of  Michigan, 
he  desired  '  to  be  understood  as 
having  approved  the  bill  with  the 
understanding,  that  the  road  is 
not  to  be  extended  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  said  territory.' 

This  message  exemplified  in  a 
striking  manner  the  crude  and  un- 
settled notions  of  the  President 
and  of  his  constitutional  advisers 
respecting  the  nature  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  of  the  duties  of  the 
Executive.  The  President  by  the 
Constitution  is  vested  with  the 
right  of  returning  bills,  that  he 
does  not  choose  to  sanction,  with 
his  objections  to  the  House  where 
ihey  originated.  Here  the  bill 
k  reconsidered  and  unless  it  is 


sanctioned  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds 
of  both  Houses,  it  does  not 
become  a  law.  This  right  of  the 
President,  hovvever,  is  a  mere 
naked  right  of  approval  or  disap- 
proval. He  cannot  annex  any 
conditions  or  qualifications  to 
his  approval.'  Siill  less  can  he 
undertake  to  give  any  particular 
construction  to  a  law  at  the  time 
of  his  approval.  The  President 
however  seemed  to  think  other- 
wise, and  notwithstanding  the  sec- 
tion directed  the  application  of 
this  appropriation  to  a  road  ex- 
tending from  Detroit  in  Michigan, 
to  Chicago  in  Illinois,  he  under- 
took to  limit  its  application  to 
such  part  of  the  road  as  was 
within  Michigan,  and  to  imagine 
that  that  declaration  of  his,  that 
he  would  so  apply  it,  rendered 
the  appropriation  constitutionally 
within  the  power  of  Congress. 

No  declaration  of  his  could 
make  such  an  appropriation  con- 
stitutional, unless  Congress  was 
originally  authorized  to  make  the 
appropriation  as  made  in  the  bill. 
If  not  so  authorized,  the  Presi- 
dent should  have  returned  the  bill 
with  his  objections,  and  a  declara- 
tion, that  he  would  apply  an  un- 
constitutional appropriation  upon 
a  constitutional  object,  was  super- 
adding to  a  legislative  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  a  breach  of  his 
own  duty  as  the  chief  executive 
magistrate  of  the  Union.  This 
difficulty  was  occasioned  by  the 
views  expressed  in  his  Message 
rejecting  the  Maysville  and  Lex- 
ington road  bill,  which  will  be 
found  in  the  second  part  of  this 
volume,  page  22. 

This  bill,  which  originated  in 
the  House,  where  it  was  reported 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


201 


February  24th,  authorized  a  sub- 
scription to  the  stock  of  the  Mays- 
ville  and  Lexington  road  Com- 
j)any.  It  was  passed  in  Com- 
mittee of  the  whole  House,  on 
ihe  26th  of  April,  and  on  the  28th 
of  April,  it  was  ordered  to  a 
third  reading,  96|yeas,  87  nays. 
The  next  day  Mr  Martin  of  South 
Carolina  moved  that  it  be  laid  on 
5-he  table,  which  was  negatived, 
85  yeas,  102  nays.  The  pre- 
vious question  being  then  called 
for  by  Mr  Crockett,the  bill  passed, 
lt)2  yeas,  85  nays,  and  was  sent 
lo  the  Senate  for  concurrence. 

In  that  body  Mr  Forsyth  moved 
when  it  came  up  for  considera- 
tion (May  14th)  to  strike  out  the 
list  section  of  the  bill,  but  the 
motion  was  rejected,  yeas  18, 
nays  25.  The  next  day  the  bill 
was  passed,  yeas  24,  nays  18,  and 
on  the  19th  of  May,  it  was  signed 
jind  sent  to  the  President.  The 
President  retained  the  bill  until 
tfie  27th,  when  he  returned  it  to 
the  House  with  his  objections, 
as  set  forth  at  length  in  his  mes- 
sage before  referred  to. 

According  to  this  message  he 
seems  to  be  of  opinion,  that  un- 
der the  Constitution,  Congress 
can  in  no  case  construct  or  pro- 
mote any  works  of  internal  im- 
provement within  the  limits  of  a 
State  provided  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  territory  occupied  by  them  be 
necessary  for  their  preservation 
and  use. 

As  to  the  appropriation  of 
money  in  aid  of  such  works, 
when  undertaken  by  Stale  au- 
thority surrendering  the  claim  of 
jurisdiction,  the  message  advances 
the  opinion,  that  by  the  practical 
construction  of  the  Federal  Con- 
17 


stitution.  Congress  has  acquired 
the  power  to  appropriate  money 
in  aid  of  works  of  internal  im- 
provement provided  sucii  works 
be  '  of  a  general  not  local  —  na- 
tional not  State  character.'  The 
work  in  question  he  considered 
of  the  latter  class,  and  he  there- 
fore returned  the  bill  authorizing 
the  subscription  to  its  stock  to  the 
House  where  it  originated.  Be- 
sides this  view  of  the  subject,  the 
President  went  into  an  examina- 
tion of  the  expediency  of  enter- 
ing upon  a  system  of  internal 
improvement  and  by  reasons  re- 
ferring to  the  liquidation  of  the  pub- 
lic debt  and  the  extravagant  char- 
acter ot  certain  proposed  improve- 
ments indicated  a  feeling  of  hos- 
tility to  the  exercise  of  the  power 
by  Congress. 

The  reading  of  this  message 
produced  great  excitements  in 
Congress.  Many  of  the  friends 
of  the  President  from  Pennsyl- 
vania and  from  the  west,  had 
relied  upon  his  adhering  to  his 
former  opinions  on  this  question, 
and  this  message  first  forced  upon 
their  minds  a  conviction  as  un- 
welcome as  it  was  unexpected. 

The  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject was  postponed  until  the  next 
day  (May  28th,)  when  the  House 
proceeded  to  the  reconsideration 
of  the  bili. 

The  question  was  upon  the  pas-  • 
sage  of  the  bill,  notwithstanding 
the  objections  of  the  President. 
The  Constitution,  in  such  cases 
requires  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress  to  con- 
firm the  bill. 

Mr  Daniel  said,  he  had  sup- 
ported the  measure  condenined 
by  the  message,  but,,  as  a  co-or- 


202 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


dinate  branch  of  the  Government 
has  called  on  this  body  to  stop 
their  career,  he,  for  one,  was 
disposed  to  give  the  people  of  the 
nation  an  opportunity  to  consider, 
coolly  and  dispassionately,  the 
objections  urged  by  the  Presi- 
dent against  the  mode  of  appro- 
priating money  to  objects  not 
national.  It  is  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world  that  the 
Executive  of  a  nation  has  inter- 
posed his  authority  to  stop  ex- 
travagant and  ruinous  appropria- 
tions. He  was  elected  on  the 
principle  of  economy  and  reform  ; 
and  if  the  representatives  of  the 
people  refuse  to  him  a  proper 
support,  it  is  impossible  that  the 
object  for  which  he  was  elected 
can  be  obtained.  In  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty  as  the  servant 
of  a  free  and  independent  people, 
and  in  obedience  to  what  he  be- 
lieves to  be  their  will,  he  has  laid 
this  subject  before  them.  They 
will  have  to  pass  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  views,  and  I  feel 
disposed,  out  of  respect  to  them 
and  the  President,  to  give  them 
an  opportunity. 

Mr  Daniel  said  he  was  in  favor 
of  internal  improvement :  but  the 
system,  as  it  has  heretofore  been 
carried  on  and  pursued,  was  bet- 
ter calculated  to  destroy  than  to 
promote  it.  The  House  had 
been  admonished,  on  a  former 
occasion,  by  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  (Mr  Storrs),  that  the 
friends  of  the  system  were  break- 
ing it  down  by  their  extravagance 
and  folly.  It  was  clear,  from 
the  message,  that  if  the  system 
was  pursued  as  it  had  been  at- 
tempted at  the  present  session, 
this  nation  would  soon  be  involv- 


ed in  a  large  and  immense  na- 
tional debt.  The  members  of 
Congress  would  understand  each 
other  —  if  not  corruptly,  the  ef- 
fect would  be  the  same  ;  they 
would  vote  for  each  other's  pro- 
jects without  regard  to  the  public 
good.  A  host  of  federal  officers 
would  be  created  to  superintend 
the  collection  of  tolls,  and  the 
repairing  and  amending  those 
improvements.  The  tax  on  the 
people  would  be  increased,  until 
their  leaders  would  be  as  great 
as  they  are  in  any  despotic  gov- 
ernment on  earth.  Besides,  it 
would  end  in  corruption  beyond 
control.  The  members  of  this 
House  cannot  now  read  all  the 
documents  printed  and  laid  on 
the  tables.  This  system  will  pro- 
duce a  swarm  of  officers  and  ac- 
counts without  end.  The  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  can 
never  examine  them  —  the  offi- 
cers become  irresponsible  and 
corrupt,  and  it  will  produce  con- 
solidation of  the  Government.  If 
the  system  is  to  be  persevered  in, 
let  us  adopt  one  that  will  not  be 
productive  of  this  evil. 

Mr  Stanberry  said  that,  in  the 
view  he  took  of  the  matter,  he 
considered  the  communication 
which  had  been  just  received,  as 
the  voice  of  the  President's  min- 
istry, rather  than  that  of  tlie 
President  himself;  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  the  voice  of  his 
chief  minister.  The  hand  of  the 
'  great  magician'  was  visible  in 
every  line  of  the  message.  There 
was  nothing  candid,  nothing  open, 
nothing  honest,  in  it.  As  one 
reason  why  the  Executive  re- 
jects the  bill,  he  assigns  the  ex- 
travagance of  this  Congress  as 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


203 


having  been  so  great  that  there 
will  not  be  money  enough  in  the 
Treasury  to  meet  the  small  ap- 
propriation contained  in  the  re- 
jected bill.  And  as  an  evidence 
of  the  correctness  of  such  appre- 
hension, the  appendix  contains  a 
list  of  all  the  bills  which  have 
been  reported  in  the  Senate  and 
in  the  House,  but  not  passed. 
These  are  relied  upon  in  the  ar- 
gument as  if  they  had  passed  and 
become  laws.  When  it  is  well 
known  to  all  of  us,  that  most  of 
these  bills  are  only  evidence  of 
the  opinions  of  the  Committees 
by  whom  they  were  reported ; 
and  there  is  not  even  a  probabili- 
ty that  they  will  ever  become 
laws.  Among  the  bills  of  this 
description,  contained  in  the  ap- 
pendix, is  the  bill  reported  in  the 
Senate  providing  for  the  amount 
of  French  spoliations,  which,  of 
itself,  makes  an  item  of  five 
millions  of  dollars.  There  is  also 
included  in  the  appendix  the  bill 
for  the  relief  of  Susan  Decatur, 
and  that  for  the  Beaumarchais 
claim  and  the  claim  of  Richard 
W.  Mead.  There  is  added  also, 
the  bill  for  the  Colonization  So- 
ciety, proposing  to  pay  twenty- 
five  dollars  for  each  negro  in  the 
United  States.  And  to  swell  the 
amount,  the  claim  of  President 
Monroe  is  also  added.  All  these 
amounts  put  together,  give  to 
the  proceedings  of  this  Congress 
an  appearance  of  extravagance 
which  does  not  belong  to  them. 
On  the  whole,  I  consider  this 
document  artfully  contrived  to 
bring  the  whole  system  of  inter- 
nal improvement  into  disrepute, 
and  as  calculated  to  deceive  the 
people.    Such  a  document  can 


dent.  It  is  not  characterized 
by  that  frankness  which  marks 
his  character.  It  has  every  ap- 
pearance of  a  low  electioneering 
document,  not  worthy  of  the 
eminent  source  to  which  it  is  at- 
tributed. 

But,  sir,  if  extravagance  has 
marked  the  proceedings  of  this 
Congress,  it  is  not  chargeable  on 
the  majority  of  this  House.  The 
appropriations  which  have  been 
made  have  been  asked  for  by  the 
Executive  officers  themselves. 
And  they  have  asked  for  more  than 
we  have  granted.  And  the  most 
extravagant  project  of  this  session, 
and  one  which  will,  I  fear,  for- 
ever disgrace  this  Congress,  I 
mean  the  bill  for  the  removal  of 
all  the  Southern  Indians  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  came  recom- 
mended to  us  as  the  peculiar  fa- 
vorite of  the  Executive. 

I  can  say,  with  truth,  that  many 
members  of  this  House  were  in- 
duced, contrary  to  their  con- 
sciences, to  vote  for  the  bill  in 
consequence  of  their  not  having 
independence  to  resist  what  they 
supposed  to  be  the  wishes  of  the 
Executive.  They  were  literally 
dragooned  into  its  support.  I 
certainly,  sir,  had  many  other 
reasons  for  my  opposition  to  the 
bill ;  but  not  the  least  of  my  rea- 
sons was  a  beHef  that  its  passage 
would  strike  a  death  blow  to  the 
whole  system  of  internal  improve- 
ment. It  received  the  support  of 
all  the  enemies  of  internal  im- 
provement, as  their  only  means 
of  destroying  the  system  ;  and  it 
is  accordingly  relied  upon  in  this 
message,  and  I  will  admit  that  it 
is  the  only  good  reason  assigned 
in  it  against  any  further  appro- 
never  have  issued  from  the  Presi::__priations  for  the  improvement  of 


V 


204  ANNUAL  REGIJ 

the  country.  And  yet  we,  who 
are  the  friends  of  this  adminis- 
tration, but  still  greater  friends  to 
the  honor  and  prosperity  of  the 
country,  have  been  threatened 
with  denunciations  by  certain 
jneinbers  of  this  House  ;  but  who 
liave  no  other  claim  for  the  sta- 
tion which  they  have  assumed  as 
our  leaders  than  the  single  cir- 
cumstance of  their  coming  from 
Tennessee,  for  our  opposition  to 
the  Indian  bill  —  for  our  contu- 
macy in  opposing  what  they  were 
pleased  to  represent  to  us  as  the 
wishes  of  the  Executive.  Sir, 
let  them  commence  their  denun- 
ciation —  I  fear  no  bravo,  unless 
he  carries  the  assassin's  knife. 
Against  every  other  species  of 
attack  I  am  prepared  to  defend 
myself. 

Mr  Polk  said  that,  while  it  had 
been  understood,  in  conversation 
through  the  House  that  the  friends 
of  this  measure  were  disposed, 
without  further  debate,  to  take 
the  vote  on  reconsideration,  on 
the  veto  of  the  President,  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution, he  thought  he  could 
speak  confidently,  when  he  said 
that  those  opposed  to  it  had  de- 
termined to  pursue  a  similar 
course. 

The  debate  had,  however,  been 
brought  on.  The  violent,  vindic- 
tive and  unprecedented  character 
of  the  remarks  which  had  just 
fallen  from  the  member  from 
Ohio  (Mr  Stanberry,)  had  open- 
ed the  whole  discussion. 

Mr  Polk  said,  he  took  the  liber- 
ty to  say  to  the  member  from 
Ohio  that  this  violent  torrent  of 
abuse,  poured  upon  the  head  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate,  was  gra- 


TER,  1829  —  30 

tuitous,  and  wholly  unjustifiable, 
not  sustained  in  a  single  particular 
by  the  truth,  and  wholly  unfound- 
ed in  fact. 

No  man  in  the  nation,  of  any 
party,  who  knows  the  character 
of  the  President,  believed  what 
the  gentleman  had  charged  upon 
him.  He  was  glad  that  the 
member  had  at  length  thrown  off 
the  cloak,  under  which  he  had 
covertly  acted  during  the  present 
session.  He  had  been  elected 
to  his  seat  here  by  the  friends  of 
the  President.  He  came  here 
professing  to  give  to  his  adminis- 
tration a  fair  and  an  honest  sup- 
port —  professing  to  be  enumera- 
ted among  his  political  friends. 
Had  he  sustained  one  single 
measure  which  the  President  re- 
commended ?  Not  one  —  and  it 
was  matter  of  no  regret  that  the 
member  had  at  length  thrown  off 
the  mask.  He  cannot  claim  this 
occasion  or  this  bill  as  a  pretext 
for  his  desertion  from  his  former 
professed  political  attachments. 
What  was  there  in  this  occasion 
to  call  forth  such  a  tirade  of 
abuse  ?  The  President  has  re- 
turned to  this  House,  as  it  was 
his  constitutional  right,  and,  en- 
tertaining the  opinion  he  did,  his 
duty  to  do,  a  bill  which  has  pass- 
ed Congress  and  been  presented 
to  him  for  his  constitutional  sanc- 
tion. He  had,  in  a  very  temper- 
ate, and  he  added,  in  a  very  able 
manner,  assigned  the  reasons  why 
he  had  felt  himself  constrained, 
from  a  high  sense  of  public  duty, 
to  withhold  his  signature  and  sanc- 
tion from  it.  We  were  called 
upon  by  an  imperative  provision 
of  the  Constitution  to  reconsid- 
er the  vote  by  which  a  ma- 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


205^ 


jority  of  this  House  had  agreed 
to  pass  the  bill?  The  bill  and 
the  message  of  the  President 
were  the  fair  subjects  of  delib- 
eration and  discussion  for  this 
House. 

The  message  of  the  President, 
he  undertook  to  stake,  was  em- 
phatically his  own ;  and  the 
views  presented  for^  the  rejection 
of  this  bill  were  the  result  of  the 
honest  conviction  of  his  own  de- 
liberate reflection.  Was  it  an 
electioneering  measure?  No  man 
who  knows  his  character  will  be- 
lieve it.  Such  considerations  are 
only  suited  to  the  bent  of  such 
grovelling  minds  as  are  them- 
selves capable  of  making  the 
charge.  No,  sir,  on  the  contra- 
ry—  on  the  brink  of  a  great 
crisis  —  at  a  period  of  unusual 
political  excitement,  to  save  his 
country  from  what  he  conscien- 
tiously believed  to  be  a  danger- 
our  infraction  of  the  Constitution 

—  to  avert  the  evils  which  threat- 
ened, in  its  consequences,  the 
long  continuance  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, upon  its  original  principles 

—  he  had,  with  a  patriotism  nev- 
er surpassed,  boldly  and  firmly 
staked  himself,  his  present  and 
his  future  popularity  and  fame, 
against  what  seemed  to  be  the 
current  of  public  opinion.  Had 
he  signed  this  bill,  the  road  on 
which  he  would  have  travelled 
would  have  been  a  broad  pave- 
ment, and  his  continued  elevation 
certain,  beyond  a  possibility  of 
doubt.  As  it  was,  he  had  plant- 
ed himself  upon  the  ramparts  of 
the  Constitution,  and  had  taken 
the  high  responsibility  upon  him- 
self to  check  the  downward 
march,  in  which  the  system  of 

18* 


which  this  bill  is  part,  was  fast 
hastening  us.    It    required  just 
such  a  man,  in  such  times,  to  re- 
store the  Constitution  to  its  origi- 
nal reading.    He  had  never  failed 
to  assume  responsibility  when  he 
should  assume  it ;  and  in  no  in- 
stance, in  his  public  life,  had  he 
displayed  in  a  more  eminent  de- 
gree, that   moral    courage  and 
firmness  of  character,  which  was 
peculiarly  characteristic  of  him, 
than  in  this.    By  this  single  act, 
he  verily  believed,  he  had  done 
more  than  any  man  in  this  country, 
for  the  last  thirty  years,  to  pre- 
serve the  Constitution  and  to  per- 
petuate the  liberties  we  enjoy. 
The  Constitution  was,  he  hoped, 
to  be  again  considered  and  prac- 
tised upon,  as  it,  in  fact,  was  one 
of  limited  powers,  and  the  States 
permitted  to  enjoy  all  the  powers 
which  they  originally  intended  to 
reserve  to  themselves  in  that  com- 
pact of  union.    The  pernicious 
consequences,  the  evil  tendencies, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  corrupting 
influence  of  the  exercise  of  a  pow 
er  over  internal  improvements  by 
the  Federal  Government,  were 
not  fully  developed  until  Vt^idiin  a 
very  few  years  last  past.  Mr 
Madison,  on  the  last  day  of  his 
term  of  office,  put  his  veto  on  the 
bonus  bill.    In  the  following  year 
Mr  Monroe  rejected  a  bill  assum- 
ing jurisdiction  and  fixing  tolls  on 
the    Cumberland   road.  The 
subject  of  the  power  was  discuss- 
ed at  great  length,  and  with  great 
ability   in  the   next  Congress. 
The  House  of  Representatives, 
by  a  small  majority,  at  that  time, 
affirmed  the  power  to  appropriate 
money  for  objects  of  national  im- 
provements, but  denied,  and  by 


20G 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


tl)e  vote  of  the  House  negatived, 
the  power  to  construct  roads  or 
canals  of  any  character,  whether 
military,  commercial  or  for  the 
transportation  of  the  mail.  It  was 
not  until  the  last  administration, 
that  the  broad  power  to  the  ex- 
tent now  claimed,  limited  only  by 
the  arbitrary  discretion  of  Con- 
i>;ress,  was  asserted  and  attempt- 
ed to  be  maintained  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive and  by  Congress.  It  was 
not  until  that  period  that  its  dan- 
i^ers  were  fully  perceived.  The 
President  had  manifested,  in  the 
message  before  us,  that  he  had 
been  an  attentive  observer  of  its 
])rogress,  and  its  probahle,  if  not 
its  inevitable  consequences.  He 
could  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the  con- 
stant collisions,  the  heart  burn- 
ings, the  combinations  and  the 
certain  corruption  to  which  its 
continual  exercise  would  tend, 
both  in  and  out  of  Congress.  In 
the  conscientious  discharge  of 
Constitutional  duty,  which  he 
was  not  at  liberty  to  decline,  he 
had  withheld  his  signature  from 
this  bill,  and  had  frankly  submit- 
ted to  us  his  views  upon  this  im- 
portant question  ;  and  he  trusted 
we  would  deliberate  upon  it  tem- 
perately, as  we  should,  and  in 
the  vote  which  we  were  about  to 
give  up  J  the  reconsideration  of 
this  bill,  according  to  the  powers 
of  the  Constitution,  express  the 
opinions  which  we  entertain,  and 
not  make  a  false  issue,  growing 
out  of  a  personal  assauh  upon  the 
character  or  n^otivcs  of  the  Chief 
'Miifiistrjite. 

By  denying  the  power  to  con- 
struct roads  and  canals,  by  refus- 
ing to  assume  the  exercise  of  any 
doubtful  power,  and  by  deeming 


it  safest  to  refer  die  question  to 
our  common  constituents  for  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,- 
die  President  had  deprived  him- 
self of  a  powerful  branch  of  Ex- 
ecutive patronage  and  influence, 
and  has  thereby  given  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  of  his  integ- 
rity of  purpose,  and  the  strongest 
refutation  of  the  affected  and 
stale  cant  of  his  enemies,  that, 
because  he  wt.s  once  a  leader  of 
the  armies  of  his  country,  he 
w^ould  be  disposed  in  the  civil 
government  to  assume  more  pow- 
ers than  legitimately  belonged  to 
him.  The  power  of  interposing 
the  Executive  veto  upon  the  le- 
gislation of  Congress  had  been 
often  exercised  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Government 
under  the  present  Constitution. 
It  had  generally  been  exercised 
upon  Constitutional  ground.  But 
instances  were  to  be  found  where 
the  power  had  been  exercised 
v^holly  upon  the  grounds  of  the 
inexpediency  of  the  measure.  A 
single  instance  he  would  cite. 
On  the  28th  February,  1797, 
General  Washington  returned, 
with  his  objections,  to  the  House 
in  which  it  originated,  a  bill  which 
had  passed  Congress,  and  which 
had  been  presented  to  him  for  his 
signature,  entided  '  An  act  to  as- 
certain and  fix  the  military  es- 
tablishment of  the  United  States.' 
He  withheld  his  signature  from 
this  bill,  not  because  of  the  un- 
constitutionality of  its  provisions, 
but  because,  in  his  opinion,  it 
was  inexpedient  to  pass  it.  Mr 
Madison,  during  his  administra- 
tion, had  put  its  veto  upon  seve- 
ral bills  besides  the  bonus  bill. 
The  exercise  of  this  constitution- 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


207 


al  power  by  the  Executive,  had 
never  been  received  with  alarm  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  had  been 
regarded,  as  it  was  intended  to 
be,  as  a  necessary  and  wholesome 
check  upon  the  acts  of  the  legis- 
lature. 

Mr  P.  P.  Barbour  rose  and  said, 
he  felt  impelled,  by  an  imperious 
sense  of  justice,  to  say  something 
in  vindication  and  justification  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Union, 
against  the  strong  animadversion 
ra  which  gentlemen  had  indulged 
towards  him,  because  he  had 
dared  to  do  his  duty. 

Was  it  in  the  contemplation  of 
those  who  framed  the  Constitu- 
tion, that  the  President  should  be 
set  up  as  a  more  pageant,  with 
powers  possessed  in  theory,  but 
never  to  be  reduced  to  practice  ? 
or  w^as  it  intended  that  this  veto 
upon  legislation,  like  every  other 
power,  should  be  exercised  when- 
soever the  occasion  should  occur 
to  make  it  necessary  ?  Do  not 
gentlemen  perceive  that  they 
might,  with  as  much  reason, 
complain  that  the  Senate  had 
negatived  one  of  our  bills  ?  for 
ihey,  too,  are  only  a  coordinate 
branch  of  the  legislature,  as  is 
the  Executive  Magistrate. 

Sir,  each  department,  and  eve- 
ry branch  of  each  department  of 
Government  has  its  appropriate 
functions  assigned.  The  coun- 
try expects  and  requires  every 
one  to  do  its  duly,  w^hether  it 
consists  of  one  man  or  a  plurality 
of  men.  And  whosoever  shall 
fail  to  do  so,  though  he  may  hope 
to  consult  his  safety  by  an  avoid- 
ance of  responsibility,  will  find 
that  he  has  forfeited  the  esteem 
and  confidence  which  are  inva- 


riably awarded  by  public  opinion 
to  firmness  and  fidelity  in  the 
performance  of  public  trusts. 

The  Constitution  proceeds  up- 
on the  idea  that  Congress,  com- 
posed of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  is  not  infalli- 
ble. It  has,  therefore,  erected 
the  additional  barrier  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive veto  against  hasty  or  inju- 
dicious action. 

It  contemplates  that  veto  as 
countervailing  the  opinion  of  one 
third  of  both  Houses,  because  its 
interposition  makes  the  concur- 
rence of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses 
necessary.  To  complain,  then, 
of  its  exercise  is  to  quarrel  with 
the  form  of  Government  under 
which  we  live.  It  is  the  precise 
reverse  of  a  complaint  which  we 
have  often  heard  of  in  a  Euro- 
pean monarchy.  There,  the 
King  complained  whenever  the 
Parliament  refused  to  register  his 
edicts.  Here,  the  Congress  are 
to  complain  whenever  the  Chief 
Magistrate  declines  to  register 
their  will. 

I  rejoice,  sir,  that  he  has  so  de- 
clined. ]  congratulate  my  country 
that,  in  this  instance,  the  Chief 
Magistrate  has  displayed  as  much 
of  moral,  as  he  heretofore  did  of 
physical  courage. 

The  main  purpose  of  the  gen- 
tleman from  Ohio  seems  /o  be 
to  inculcate  the  opinion  that  the 
rejection  of  the  bill  in  question 
w^as  with  a  view  to  acquire  popu- 
larity. Look  at  the  circumstan- 
ces of  the  case,  and  tell  me 
whether  this  opinion  can  be  sus- 
tained. 

This  bill  w^as  not  only  carried 
by  a  majority,  as  it  must  have 
been,  but  by  a  decisive  majority 


208 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


of  both  Houses  of  Congress.  Can 
any  man  suppose  that  a  President 
who  set  out  upon  an  adventure  in 
quest  of  popularity,  would  make 
his  first  experiment  against  a 
question  which,  by  passing  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  seemed  to 
carry  with  it  the  approbation  of 
the  States,  and  the  people  of  the 
States?  On  the  contrary,  if  he 
were  going  for  himself  rather 
than  for  his  country,  would  he 
not,  by  approving  the  bill,  have 
just  floated  down  the  current  of 
apparent  pubHc  opinion,  without 
encountering  the  least  impedi- 
ment in  his  course?  Instead  of 
this,  sir,  what  has  he  done  ?  Re- 
garding his  country  more  than 
himself,  looking  with  an  eye  that 
never  wdnked  to  the  public  good, 
and  not  to  his  personal  aggran- 
dizement, he  has  withholden  his 
approval  from  this  bill,  which  was 
a  favorite  bantling  with  a  majori- 
ty of  both  Houses  of  Congress ; 
he  has  thus  placed  himself  in  a 
position  where  he  has  to  win  his 
way  to  public  approbation,  in  this 
respect,  under  as  adverse  circum- 
stances as  the  mariner  who  has 
to  row  up  stream  against  wind 
and  tide. 

Sir,  the  man  who  is  in  quest 
of  popularity  and  power  would 
have  taken  a  difl^erent  course. 
By  approving  this  bill  and  thus 
continuing  the  system  of  inter- 
nal improvement,  the  President 
would  have  commanded  an  im- 
mense amount  of  patronage,  as 
well  in  the  disbursement  of  count- 
less millions  of  money,  as  in  ap- 
pointments to  office.  And  yet, 
though  these  means  of  power 
and  influence  would  be  at  his  own 
command,  though  he  presents  the 


rare  example  of  an  Executive 
Magistrate  rejecting  the  use  of 
that  which  would  contribute  so 
much  to  personal  aggrandizement, 
he  is  still  charged  with  courting 
popularity. 

Sir,  I  hail  this  act  of  the  Presi- 
dent as  ominous  of  the  most 
auspicious  results.  Among 
the  many  excellent  doctrines 
which  have  grown  out  of  our 
republican  system,  is  this  ;  that 
the  blessings  of  freedom  can- 
not be  enjoyed  without  a  fre- 
quent recurrence  to  fundamental 
principles.  In  this  instance  we 
are  making  that  recurrence.  It 
would  seem,  sir,  that  the  period 
of  about  thirty  years  constitutes  a 
political  cycle.  Thirty  years 
ago,  at  the  opening  of  the  present 
century,  our  Government  was 
drawn  back  to  its  original  princi- 
ples ;  the  vessel  of  state,  like  one 
at  sea,  had  gotten  upon  a  wrong 
tack,  and  the  new  pilot  who  was 
then  placed  at  the  helm,  brought 
it  again  into  the  right  course  for 
the  purpose  of  reaching  its  proper 
destination.  In  the  progress  of 
a  long  voyage  it  has  again  de- 
clined from  its  proper  course. 
And  I  congratulate  the  whole 
crew  that  we  have  found  another 
pilot  with  enough  of  skill  in  navi- 
gation and  firmness,  again  to  cor- 
rect the  declination.  The  present 
Chief  Magistrate,  sir,  '  had  done 
the  State  some  service'  hereto- 
fore ;  but  in  my  estimation  it  was 
but  as  dust  in  the  balance,  com- 
pared with  the  good  which  he 
has  now  done. 

I  not  only  concur  with  the 
President  as  far  as  he  goes  in  his 
views,  but  I  go  farther.  He  de- 
nies the  power  of   Congress  to 


INTERNAL  MPROVEMENT. 


209 


construct  roads,  with  a  claim  of 
jurisdiction  So  do  I.  He  ad- 
mits that,  as  the  Constitution  has 
been  long  construed,  the  power  to 
appropriate  money  for  such  pur- 
poses as  are  really  national,  must 
be  acquiesced  in,  until  the  diffi- 
culty is  removed  by  an  amend- 
ment. In  this  I  differ  from  the 
President,  as  he  has  a  right  to 
difTer  from  me  and  from  both 
Houses  of  Congress.  But  as  I 
claim  the  right  to  follow  the 
lights  of  my  own  judgment,  so  I 
am  always  ready  to  acknowledge 
that  of  the  President  to  do  the 
sanie. 

But  I  will  not  now  go  into  the 
Constitutional  question.  Apart 
from  this,  let  me  ask  whether 
there  are  not  abundant  reasons 
for  the  course  which  the  Presi- 
dent has  pursued  ?  He  tells  you 
the  subject  has  been  involved  in 
doubt,  and  has  produced  much 
diversity  of  opinion.  This  is  a 
part  of  the  political  history  of  the 
country.  Is  it  not  the  part  of 
wisdom,  as  well  patriotism,  to 
submit  this  question  to  the  States, 
in  the  form  of  amendment,  rather 
than  press  on  against  the  known 
will  of  a  large  portion  of  them  ? 
The  States  feel  a  deep  sense  of 
loyalty  to  the  Union ;  but  they 
feel,  too,  that  they  have  rights  to 
demand  as  well  as  duties  to  per- 
form. Let  us  not  place  them  in 
a  situation  where  they  may  be 
driven  to  a  course  that  would  be 
called  patriotism  by  some  and 
rebellion  by  others,  but  which, 
by  whatsoever  name  it  might  be 
called,  would  endanger  the  suc- 
cess of  our  great  experiment,  the 
benefits  of  which  concern  the 
whole  human  family.  The  course 


suggested  by  the  Chief  Magistrate 
is  calculated  to  avert  these  dan- 
gers. When  members  on  this 
floor  maintain  any  principles,  they 
have  no  weight  but  that  which 
belongs  to  them  as  individuals  ; 
but  when  a  suggestion  comes 
from  the  Executive,  and  espe- 
cially accompanying  his  rejection 
of  a  bill,  it  brings  with  it  all  the 
authority  to  which  the  opinion 
of  a  branch  of  the  Government 
is  entitled.  An  issue  is  thus 
made  up  between  him  and  Con- 
gress, which  will  cause  the  people 
to  deliberate  ;  and  thus  we  may 
hope  that  it  will  be  calmly  deci- 
ded by  them,  so  as  to  put  the 
subject  forever  to  rest. 

Sir,  there  are  other  reasons 
why  this  course,  pursued  by  the 
Executive,  should  meet  our  de- 
cided approbation.  I  allude  to 
the  inequality  and  demoralizing 
tendency  of  this  system. 

A  distribution  made  upon  prin- 
ciples of  actual  inequahty  will 
produce  deep  disgust  on  the  one 
side,  and  fostering  corruption  on 
the  other. 

I  mean  no  offence  to  any  State 
or  individual ;  the  remark  applies 
without  distinction,  to  all  States 
and  individuals,  under  all  circum- 
stances. Sir,  the  history  of  all 
people,  nations,  tongues  and  lan  - 
guages teaches  us  the  same  mel- 
ancholy truth,  that  all  Govern- 
ments, of  whatever  form,  have 
finally  perished  by  corruption. 

Mr  Vance  said  that,  the  course 
pursued  by  the  President  would 
not  operate  on  his  mind,  either 
for  or  against  that  individual.  He 
reminded  the  House  that  he  had 
himself  been  always  an  advocate 
of  the  system  of  internal  improve- 


^10  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


m  ent.  He  stated  that,  by  that 
system  the  west  must  stand  or 
fall.  Unless  it  be  sustained,  the 
west  can  never  have  any  partici- 
pation in  the  appropriations  of  the 
General  Government.  As  soon 
as  the  wealth  derived  from  emi- 
gration shall  be  exhausted,  the 
west  must  be  drained  of  every 
dollar  unless  this  system  be  con- 
tinued. It  is  only  by  its  contin- 
uance that  the  prosperity  of  those 
who  now  live  in  the  west  can  be 
prevented  from  becoming  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  to 
the  Eastern  States.  He  stated 
that  the  south  had,  during  the 
last  year,  received  more  of  the 
disbursements  of  the  General 
Government  than  had  been  ex- 
pended in  the  whole  of  the  west- 
ern country  on  internal  improve- 
ment. He  then  defended  his 
colleague  from  the  attack  made 
upon  him  by  the  gentleman  from 
Tennessee.  His  colleague  (Mr 
Stanberry)  was  able  to  sustain 
himself.  That  gentleman  should 
have  more  gratitude  for  his  col- 
league and  for  the  balance  of  the 
Ohio  and  Kentucky  and  Pennsyl- 
vania delegation,  who  would  now 
vote  against  him  on  the  question. 
For  himself,  he  felt  no  disappoint- 
ment, for  he  had  foretold  from 
the  stump  the  course  which  the 
present  administration  would  take. 
His  colleagues  had  also,  from 
the  stump  declared  that  they  well 
understood  the  thing,  and  that 
General  Jackson  was  the  firm, 
steady  and  consistent  friend  of 
internal  improvement.  It  was 
clear  that  he  had  so  far  succeed- 
ed in  concealing  his  real  feelings 
on  the  subject  as  to  deceive  those 
gentlemen.    They  had,  however. 


gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  gen- 
tleman from  Tennessee,  and  had 
gained  the  victory.  They  had 
attained  the  triumph  and  now 
they  were  receiving  their  reward. 
When  this  message  came  into  the 
House  it  struck  a  damp  to  the 
feelings  of  those  individuals,  who 
then  felt  the  final  destruction  of 
all  their  fond  hopes. 

Mr  Bell  said,  when  the  mem- 
ber from  Ohio  (Mr  Stanberry), 
took  his  seat,  his  feelings  had 
prompted  an  immediate  reply, 
not  more  because  of  the  unprece- 
dented manner  of  the  attack  upon 
the  message  which  had  been  the 
subject  of  remark,  than  of  the 
nature  of  the  allusion  which  had 
been  made  to  a  bill  not  now  be- 
fore the  House. 

The  member  from  Ohio  has 
told  the  House  that  a  majority  of 
its  members  were  d  ragooned  into 
the  passage  of  the  Indian  bill  by 
the  Heads  of  Departments.  I 
had  hoped  that  we  should  hear  no 
more  upon  the  subject  of  that 
bill,  upon  this  floor,  in  the  tone 
which  had  been  so  finely  indulg- 
ed by  many  of  the  gentlemen 
who  had  spoken  against  it,  par- 
ticularly as  the  concluding  argu- 
ment had  been  waived.  It  was 
not  enough  that,  in  the  discussion 
of  that  bill  when  it  was  directly 
before  the  House,  every  epithet 
of  reproach  had  been  thrown  out 
against  its  author  :  that  one  mem- 
ber should  say  it  was  perfidious  ; 
another,  that  it  was  infamous,  and 
a  third,  that  open  bribery  had 
found  a  sanction  in  the  officers 
of  the  Government ;  and  all  these 
denunciations  did  pass  almost  un- 
noticed by  the  friends  of  the  ad- 
ministration.   I  sat  still  and  for- 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 


211 


bore  reply  under  repeated  slan- 
ders of  this  kind  ;  and  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  friends  of  the  mea- 
sure, and  in  consideration  of  the 
advanced  period  of  the  session, 
permitted  the  question  to  be  final- 
ly taken,  without  reply. 

The  President,  in  taking  the 
ground  he  did  upon  the  Indian 
question,  knew  that  he  was  incur- 
ring great  responsibility  ;  that  he 
was   shocking   deeply  wrought 
prejudices  in  various  classes  of 
the  community  ;   in  many  sec- 
lions  strong  religious    feelings ; 
that  he  was  exposing  himself  to 
the  arts  and  misrepresentations  of 
his  political  enemies,  yet  he  dared 
to  take  the  course  he  did,  be- 
cause he  loved  his  country  and 
its  institutions ;  that  country  for 
which  he  had  hazarded  more 
than   mere  personal  popularity 
upon   repeated    occasions  —  for 
which  he  had  offered  to  die. 
What  had  he  gained  by  his  course 
upon  that  question  ?  The  Presi- 
dent had  taken  a  strong  interest 
in  the  success  of  the  policy  of 
removing  the  Indians,  because  he 
thought  it  calculated  to  preserve 
the  harmony  of  the  republic,  and 
its  reputation  from  a  blot,  which 
the   inherent   difficulties  of  our 
relations  with  the  southern  tribes, 
and  the  irritations  likely  to  grow 
out  of  them  might  bring  upon  it. 
But,  sir,  when  he  had  laid  the 
proposition  before  Congress  he 
felt  his  conscience  free.    He  had 
done  what  duty  prompted ;  the 
rest  was  to  be  decided.  [Here 
Mr  Vance  called  Mr  Bell  to  or- 
der, as  he  was  discussing  a  bill 
not  before  the  House].    Sir,  I 
refer  to  this  measure  because  it 
has  been  brought  into  this  discus- 


sion. The  administration  has 
been  charged  with  taking  an  im- 
proper interest  in  it ;  and  it  has 
been  repeatedly  referred  to  as  an 
instance  of  the  extravagance  of 
this  Congress.  We  have  been 
told,  in  this  debate,  that  while 
the  President  scruples  to  appro- 
priate money  to  internal  improve- 
ment, he  has  urged  the  adoption 
of  another  measure,  and  by  his 
influence,  carried  it  through  the 
House,  involving  an  expenditure 
of  half  a  million  of  dollars,  and 
that,  too,  to  further  a  ruinous  and 
disgraceful  policy.  I  consider 
everything  I  have  said,  or  shall 
say  upon  this  subject,  strictly  in 
order.  When  this  measure  was 
directly  the  subject  of  discussion, 
I  stated  that  the  extravagance  of 
an  administration  would  never  be 
decided  merely  by  the  amount 
expended  — that  the  intelligence 
of  the  country,  in  making  up  its 
verdict  upon  such  a  question, 
would  look  to  the  propriety  of 
the  expenditure  —  to  the  neces- 
sity which  demanded  the  appli- 
cation of  the  public  treasure  ;  and 
that  praise  or  censure  would  fol- 
low as  the  objects  to  be  accom- 
plished were  for  good  or  for  evil. 
I  also  then  stated  that,  the  removal 
of  the  Indians  would  bring  more 
money  into  the  Treasury  by  re- 
moving the  incumbrance  of  the 
Indian  tide  from  the  public  lands, 
than  would  be  drawn  from  it ;  but 
enough  of  this  now. 

It  has  been  said  in  the  course 
of  the  debate,  that  the  President 
has  undertaken  to  decide  against 
the  will  of  the  people,  as  ex- 
pressed through  their  representa- 
tives in  Congress,  that  appropria- 
tions shall  not  be  made  to  objects 


212 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


of  internal  improvement.  The 
ponstilution  allows  the  veto  of 
ihe  President  upon  the  will  of  a 
majority  of  Congress.  By  the 
course  pursued  in  the  present  in- 
stance, the  subject  is  recommit- 
ted to  Congress,  and  an  appeal 
will  ultimately  be  carried  before 
ihe  people,  who  will,  in  their  re- 
turns to  the  next  Congress,  pro- 
nounce upon  the  motives  of  the 
President,  and  approve  or  con- 
demn his  councils,  as  they  shall 
think  fit.  Before  that  tribunal 
he  will  be  arraigned,  and  if  they 
shall  not  see  the  evils  of  the  pres- 
ent system  of  appropriation  in  the 
light  he  does,  he  is  willing  to  be 
prostrated  in  their  esteem.  But, 
sir,  I  do  not  understand  the  Presi- 
dent to  be  opposed  to  internal 
improvement.  Jt  is  the  present 
unequal  and  distracting  m^ode  of 
appropriating  the  public  treasure, 
which  he  has  set  his  face  against. 
A  patriotic  system  of  dispensing 
the  general  funds  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  country  —  a  system 
which,  while  it  professes  to  act 
for  the  general  good,  and  to  be- 
come a  cement  to  the  Union, 
shall  be  so,  in  fact ;  one  which 
shall  be  secured  against  abuses 
by  an  amendment  of  the  Consti- 
tution, is  decidedly  approved  by 
the  message.  The  expediency 
of  proceeding  in  the  system,  as 
at  present  practised,  is,  it  is  true, 
as  decidedly  denied  ;  but  it  is 
not  proposed  to  dam  up,  forever, 
the  stream  from  the  Treasury  for 
the  beneficent  purposes  of  inter- 
nal improvement ;  this  I  do  not 
believe  the  people  will  consent 
to ;  but  it  is  proposed  to  check 
its  flow  in  its  present  wild  and  un- 
restricted channel.    It  is  believed 


that  the  present  burthens  of  the 
country  may  be  greatly  diminish- 
ed ;  that  manufactures  may  be 
duly  encouraged,  and  still  have  u 
surplus  in  the  Treasury,  ample 
enough  for  the  accomplishment 
of  every  desirable  object  of  inter- 
nal improvement. 

The  gentleman  from  Ohio,  last 
up  (Mr  Vance),  has  spoken  in  an 
improper  manner  of  the  fading 
prospects  of  the  west;  and  dep- 
recated the  idea  of  diminished 
expenditures  for  its  benefit.  1 
claim  also  to  be  a  friend  to  the 
interests  of  the  west  —  that  west 
to  which  I  belong  by  birth,  and  I 
promise  that  gentleman  to  go 
along  with  him,  side  by  side,  in 
asserting  its  claim  to  be  regarded 
in  the  distribution  of  the  favors  of 
this  Government  —  its  claim  to  a 
fair  portion  of  whatever  funds 
shall  be  appropriated  to  internal 
improvement ;  but  I  differ  with 
him  as  to  the  mode  of  applying 
them.  1  contend  that  the  half 
million,  which  it  would  require 
to  extend  the  Zanesville  road 
through  Kentucky,  and  to  make 
it  permanent,  applied  under  the 
direction  of  the  Legislature  of 
that  State,  to  various  roads  of 
smaller  extent,  leading  from  her 
interior  secluded  and  fertile  dis- 
tricts, to  the  great  oudets  which 
nature  has  already  provided  lor 
carrying  off  the  productions  of  the 
whole  west,  would  secure  a  great- 
er actual  amelioration  of  the  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  the  peo- 
ple of  that  State,  than  two  millions 
expended  upon  any  free  great 
road,  extending  quite  through 
the  State,  and  belonging  to  any 
great  system  of  national  improve- 
ment, executed  under  the  waste- 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT, 


213 


ful  superintendence  of  the  Gene- 
ral Government.  I  affirm  that 
the  same  increased  proportion  of 
actual  advantage  and  ameliora- 
tion would  attend  the  application 
of  a  small  amount  to  similar  ob- 
jects in  Ohio,  or  in  any  other 
western  State  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  local  authorities,  over 
a  large  sum  administered  by  the 
General  Goveruinent. 

Mr  Sutherland  said,  he  should 
vote  in  favor  of  the  bill.  He 
said  Pennsylvania  was  the  friend 
of  internal  improvements,  and 
also  the  friend  of  General  Jack- 
son, and  she  would  abide  by  both, 
waiting  with  confidence  for  the 
slow  but  certain  process  by  which 
the  system  of  improvements  would 
universally  prevail.  The  Presi- 
dent had,  in  rejecting  the  bill, 
exercised  only  his  constitutional 
power,  and  he  (Mr  Sutherland,) 
and  his  constituents,  in  support- 
ing it,  were  only  exercising  the 
power  which  the  Constitution 
granted  to  them.  He  represent- 
ed a  State  which  was  friendly  to 
both  ;  for  in  fact,  Pennsylvania 
was  the  first  State  which  had 
given  the  present  Chief  Magistrate 
an  undivided  support,  and  which 
was  also  while  it  had  lost  no  con- 
fidence in  its  first  object,  being 
the  general  good  of  his  country, 
friendly  to  the  great  principle  of 
iaternal  improvement.  That  such 
would,  sooner  or  later,  be  the 
universal  sentiment  of  the  nation, 
he  had  no  doubt  the  course  of 
time  and  the  course  of  human 
afi?airs  would  render  apparent. 

Mr  Isacks  said,  he  was  sin- 
cerely sorry  to  feel  it  a  duty  he 
owed  to  himself  to  say  a  few 
words  on  this   subject.  From 
!9 


what  had  of  late  fallen  from  dif- 
ferent members,  and  other  indi- 
cations, he  scarcely  knew  wheth- 
er even  he  was  regarded  as  the 
friend  or  enemy  of  this  administra- 
tion. To  such  as  might  wish  to 
monopolize  the  entire  support  of 
the  administration  he  had  but  lit- 
tle to  say.  This  he  might  say 
perhaps,  without  offence,  that  '  he 
was  an  older  (not  a  better)  sol- 
dier' than  those  who  had  on  this 
day,  so  much  to  his  satisfaction, 
pronounced  their  eulogies  upon 
the  President.  He  had  been 
longer  in  the  service  of  that  cause 
which  brought  the  present  Ex- 
ecutive into  power  than  many 
who  were  now  far  ahead  of  him, 
at  least,  in  their  own  estimation. 

Mr  Isacks  said,  when  he  came 
here  some  seven  years  ago,  a  col- 
league of  the  President's,  if  mem- 
bers of  different  Houses  can  be 
called  so,  the  Tennessee  delega- 
tion, with  one  exception,  old 
George  Kremer,  and  perhaps 
half  a  dozen  others,  were  all  the 
political  friends  that  could  then 
be  numbered  for  him  in  Con- 
gress. Nothing  could  be  more 
grateful  to  him  than  the  multipli- 
cation since.  He  was  now,  and 
had  been  ever  since,  to  this  mo- 
ment, no  less  the  devoted,  per- 
sonal and  political  friend  of  the 
President  than  he  was  then  and 
had  been  before.  And  in  vindi- 
cation of  his  honor,  his  honesty, 
patriotism  and  firmness  of  pur- 
pose, he  would,  on  any  proper 
occasion,  '  go  as  far  as  he  that 
goes  farthest,'  and  he  trusted  that 
his  acts,  in  and  out  of  this  House, 
during  the  two  last  struggles  foi 
the  Presidency  would  be  taken 
as  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  that| 


214 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


pledge.  But  on  the  present 
question  he  differed  from  the 
President,  and  what  of  that  ?  We 
have,  said  Mr  Isacks,  differed 
before.  During  the  Congress 
that  we  were  representatives  of 
Tennessee,  we  often  differed ; 
but  there  was  then  a  class  of  sub- 
jects we  did  not  differ  upon.  We 
voted  together  (I  speak  from 
memory,  not  records)  on  the 
survey  bill,  on  the  bill  to  subscribe 
stock  to  the  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware  canal,  on  the  bill  for 
the  construction  of  the  road  from 
Canton  to  Zanesville,  in  Ohio, 
and  on  the  bill  appropriating  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  remove  ob- 
structions in  the  Mississippi  river. 
I  do  not  say,  and  must  not  be  un- 
derstood to  mean  that,  by  those 
votes,  either  he  or  I  stand  com- 
mitted for  this  bill  :  but  for  my- 
self I  will  say  that,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  opinions  formed  during 
the  period  in  which  those  bills 
were  discussed,  and  which  opin- 
ions have  never  since  been  chang- 
ed or  shaken,  I  did,  upon  mature 
reflection,  vote  for  this  bill  when 
it  was  here  before  ;  my  opinion, 
notwithstanding  the  arguments  by 
which  the  President's  objections 
are  so  powerfully  urged,  remain 
the  same,  and  if  I  live,  I  will  vote 
for  it  again.  And  do  I  expect  by 
that  to  offend  the  President  ?  Not 
so.  If  it  were  to  do  it,  it  would 
prove  that  I  am  what  I  am,  and 
he  is  not  Andrew  Jackson  !  !  !  I 
think  I  know  the  man  who  now 
fills  the  Executive  chair  well 
no  ugh  to  be  convinced  that  if 
ithout  a  change  of  opinion,  I 
should  feel  so  strongly  the  influ- 
ence of  the  message  as  to  change 
my  vote  on  this  bill,  he  would 


think  me  a  villain.  I  am  certain 
he  ought,  under  such  circum- 
stances, to  despise  me,  as  I 
should  myself,  and  am  sure  he 
would.  But  suppose  we  had  a 
Chief  Magistrate  capable  of  tak- 
ing offence,  and  feeling  resent- 
ment for  honest  consistency  i-n 
others,  I  would  say  to  him,  1  can- 
not help  it ;  to  you,  Mr  Presi- 
dent, I  owe  no  responsibilities  ; 
to  none  but  God  and  my  con- 
stituents do  I  acknowledge  re- 
sponsibility, and  these  I  vAW  dis- 
charge as  I  may. 

My  colleague  (Mr  Bell)  anti- 
cipates the  final  settlement  of  the 
great  question  of  internal  im- 
provement when  the  people  shall 
decide,  and  their  will  is  repre- 
sented. I  heartily  join  him  in 
that  appeal  to  the  people,  and  so 
far  as  I  can,  will  cheerfully  stake 
the  fate  of  internal  improvement, 
yes,  and  my  own  fate  politically, 
upon  that  issue.  Will  my  col- 
league do  likewise  ? 

Sir  Kennon  observed  that,  be- 
ing perfectly  satisfied  in  his  own 
mind  that  all  the  arguments 
which  could  be  adduced  would 
not  change  a  single  vote  upon  the 
subject,  he  felt  himself  bound  to 
move  the  previous  question. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to  by 
a  vote  of  yeas  105,  nays  76.  So 
the  previous  question  was  car- 
ried. 

The  main  question,  which  w'as 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  the  ob- 
jections of  the  President  notwith- 
standing, was  then  put,  w^ien 
there  appeared  to  be  yeas  96, 
nays  92.  Two  thirds  of  the 
House  not  agreeing  to  pass  the 
bill,  it  was  rejected. 

On  the  29th  of  May  the  House 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMET. 


proceeded  to  take  up  several 
other  bills,  which  originated  in 
the  Senate,  authorizing  internal 
improvements  ;  and  as  if  with  the 
view  of  evincing  its  total  disregard 
of  the  opinions  of  the  President, 
the  House  passed  the  following 
bills  : 

1st.  One  authorizing  a  sub- 
scription to  the  Washington  Turn- 
pike Company.  The  previoi>s 
question  was  demanded  and  the 
bill  was  ordered  to  a  third  read- 
ing—  yeas  81,  nays  47,  and 
passed,  74  yeas,  39  nays. 

3d.  A  bill  authorizing  a  sub- 
scription to  the  stock  of  the  Lou- 
isville and  Portland  Canal  Com- 
pany. Here  an  attempt  was 
made  to  delay  the  proceedings 
by  demanding  a  call  of  the 
House  ;  but  the  call  was  refused, 
43  yeas,  91  nays.  The  previous 
question  was  then  demanded  and 
the  bill  was  ordered  to  a  third 
reading,  83  yeas,  52  nays,  and 
passed,  80  yeas,  37  nays. 

The  act  making  appropriations 
for  light-houses,  improving  har- 
bors and  directing  surveys,  &ic, 
which  had  been  amended  in  the 
Senate,  was  also  called  for,  and 
various  efforts  were  ineffectually 
made  by  the  friends  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  prevent  a  vote  on  the 
bill  by  motions  to  adjourn  and 
for  a  call  of  the  House.  These 
having  failed,  the  previous  ques- 
tion was  ordered,  yeas  95,  nays 
44,  and  the  amendments  proposed 
by  the  Senate  were  put  separate- 
ly and  passed. 

On  the  amendment  relating  to 
the  improvement  of  the  naviga- 
tion of  Back  Creek,  in  Maryland, 
the  vote  stood,  yeas  76,  nays  60. 
The  amendments  having  all  pass- 


ed, the  bill  was  sent,  together 
with  the  two  other  bills,  to  the 
President  for  his  approbation. 
The  first  bill  being  similar  to  the 
one  already  rejected,  was  return- 
ed to  the  Senate,  where  it  origi- 
nated, with  a  reference  to  the 
message  rejecting  the  Maysville 
bill  for  his  reasons.  The  Senate 
then  proceeded  to  reconsider  this 
bill,  and  on  the  question  of  its  pas- 
sage, notwithstanding  the  objec- 
tions 5  the  vote  stood,  yeas  21, 
nays  17,  andthe  bill  was  reject- 
ed. 

The  other  bills,  viz.  that  au- 
thorizing a  subscription  to  the 
Louisville  Canal,  and  the  bill  for 
building  light-houses  were  retain- 
ed for  further  consideration  imti 
the  next  session  of  Congress. 
The  manner  in  which  they  were 
finally  disposed  of  must  of  course 
be  reserved  for  a  future  volume. 
This  determination  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive against  the  system  of  in- 
ternal improvement  gave  great 
offence  to  many  ol  his  friends 
and  entirely  alienated  some  from 
his  party. 

Even  in  Congress  such  an  in- 
creasing want  of  confidence  was 
manifested  that  the  decided  ma- 
jorities which  the  administration 
possessed  in  both  Houses  at  the 
commencement  of  the  session  had 
dwindled  before  its  close  into  fee- 
ble and  inefficient  minorities.  Nor 
was  this  the  only  difficulty  to 
which  the  President  had  expos- 
ed himself  by  his  decision.  In 
seeking  to  temporize  and  to 
lay  down  a  rule  satisfactory  to 
both  parties,  he  had  assumed  an 
unsafe  position,  more  difficult  to 
maintain  than  either  of  the  oppo- 
site points,  which  he  sought  to 


216 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


avoid,  and  contradictory,  not  only 
to  his  votes  when  a  federal  Sena- 
tor, but  also  to  bills  already  sanc- 
tioned by  him  as  President.  The 
Cumberland  road,  the  Detroit  and 
Chicago  road  were  within  the  lim- 
its of  States,  while  the  bill  for  the 
improvement  of  harbors  and  re- 
moving obstructions  in  rivers  was 
only  another  branch  in  the  gener- 
al system  of  internal  improve- 
ment. That  bill,  which  was  ap- 
proved April  23d,  appropriated 
for  removing  obstructions  in  the 
Ohio  and  other  interior  rivers 
$85,474  ;  for  improving  by  piers 
and  otherwise  the  harbors  in  the 
lakes  $21,607  ;  for  improving 
harbors  on  the  Atlantic  $28,607; 
for  piers  and  breakwaters  on  the 
Atlantic  $185,010  ;  for  the  pre- 
servation of  Plymouth  beach 


$1,850  ;  for  deepening  an  inland 
passage  between  St  John's  and 
St  Mary's  rivers  $1,500;  for 
improving  the  navigation  of  rivers 
on  the  Atlantic  $27,688. 

Tlie  approval  of  the  bill  au- 
thorizing these  appropriations  left 
it  still  doubtful  how  far  the  Presi- 
dent felt  at  liberty  to  assent  to 
internal  improvement  bills,  and  of 
the  exact  extent  and  limits  of 
the  principles  by  which  Lie  intend- 
ed to  be  governed  during  the  res- 
idue of  his  administration.  Some 
dissatisfaction  was  excited  by  the 
unusual  course  he  adopted,  of  re- 
taining bills  until  the  next  session, 
and  the  country  looked  forward 
with  some  curiosity  for  the  further 
development  of  his  views  on  this 
question,  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MEXICO. 

Condition  of  Country. — -Invasion  from  Havana. — Defeat  and 
Capitulation  of  Invaders.  —  Revolution.  —  Separation  of  Yuca- 
tan. —  Abdication  of  Guerrero.  — Bustamente  chosen. 


The  last  important  incident  re- 
corded in  our  summary  of  events 
in  Mexico,  for  the  year  ending  in 
July,  1829,  was  the  expedition 
fitted  out  against  her  in  the  Ha- 
vana, under  the  command  of 
General  Isidor  Barradas ;  a  cir- 
cumstance which  instead  of  in- 
flicting injury  upon  the  nascent 
liberties  of  the  Mexicans,  was 
for  a  time  productive  of  great  and 
important  benefits.  The  sanguine 
hopes  that  had  been  entertained 
of  permanent  tranquillity  and  pros- 
perity under  the  vigorous  admin- 
istration of  President  Guerrero, 
had  already  began  to  fade  away  ; 
the  seeds  of  disease  were  too 
deeply  planted,  to  be  eradicated 
so  easily ;  the  finances  of  the 
country  were  inextricably  en- 
tangled ;  commerce  was  still  de- 
clining, and  the  revenues  were 
necessarily  diminished  in  propor- 
tion. The  army,  strengthened  in 
power  and  encouraged  in  pre- 
sumption by  its  agency  in  the 
late  revolution,  had  too  long  in- 
dulged in  license  to  yield  quietly 
to  the  supremacy  of  civil  rule, 
and  but  for  the  approach  of  dan- 
19* 


ger  from  abroad  to  occupy  its 
attention  and  employ  its  energies, 
it  is  probable  that  anarchy  would 
soon  have  triumphed  over  the 
fatal  weakness  of  the  new  admin- 
istration. 

The  hopes  of  the  Spanish 
Government  and  the  royalist  party 
from  the  invading  expedition  were 
soon  to  be  dissipated. 

They  had  calculated  largely 
upon  the  internal  difficulties  and 
dissensions  of  the  Mexicans,  and 
the  utter  impossibility  of  defence 
was  strongly  insisted  on.  The 
celebrated  castle  of  St  Juan 
D'Ulloa  was  said  to  be  in  a  state 
of  dilapidation  ;  the  Mexican  fleet 
was  greatly  inferior  to  that  under 
the  command  of  Commodore 
Laborde ;  and  the  greatest  reli- 
ance was  placed  upon  the  intes- 
tine divisions  of  the  country,  and 
the  supposed  unpopularity  of  the 
Government,  arising  from  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Spaniards.  But 
if  the  means  of  resistance  were 
feeble,  those  of  the  invaders  were 
contemptible,  and  their  measures 
the  most  ill-judged  and  unwise 
that  ever  disgraced   an  incompe- 


218 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


tent  commander.  The  whole 
number  of  the  Spanish  army 
was  but  little  more  than  4000 ; 
and  with  this  inconsiderable  force, 
they  landed  upon  the  shores  of 
Mexico  in  August,  a  season  of 
the  year  when  pestilence  taints 
every  breeze,  to  attempt  the  con- 
quest of  a  country  through  which, 
on  account  of  ph)sical  impedi- 
ments, it  is  difficult  to  march  a 
body  of  troops  even  Vv'hcn  unop- 
posed, and  in  which  they  could 
rely  only  upon  their  own  resources 
for  supplies  and  subsistence. 

The  Spaniards  landed  at  Tarn- 
pico  on  the  27th  of  July ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  alleged  weak- 
ness of  the  Government  and  luke- 
warmness  of  the  people,  the 
most  vigorous  preparations  were 
promptly  made  for  their  reception. 
The  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of 
its  unlimited  prerogative,  invested 
the  President  with  extraordinary 
powers,  to  be  retained  until  the 
danger  should  be  at  an  end ;  and 
General  Santa  Ana  at  the  head 
of  about  two  thousand  men  ad- 
vanced to  Tuspacu,  distant  only 
70  miles  from  the  place  of  de- 
barkation. As  soon  as  he  re- 
ceived information  of  the  landing 
of  the  enemy,  he  hastened  to 
meet  them  at  Tampico  where  he 
arrived  on  the  19th  of  August. 

Barradas  in  the  meantime  had 
marched  with  the  greater  part  of 
his  force,  to  attack  General  La 
Gargia,  then  occupying  Altamiva 
with  about  3000  men,  who  re- 
treated before  him  —  but  he  was 
soon  recalled  from  the  pursuit. 
On  the  20th  of  August,  Santa 
Ana  attacked  the  old  town  of 
Tampico,  the  head  quarters  of 
the  Spaniards,  of  whom  however 


but  a  few  hundreds  had  been  left 
by    Barradas   for  its  defence. 
These,  with  the  sick,  offered  a 
stout  resistance  to  the  efforts  of 
the  Mexicans  for  a  time  j  but  tha 
disparity  of  numbers   was  too 
great  and  the  remnant  of  the 
Spaniards  were  actually  in  treaty 
for  the  surrender  of  the  place, 
when  their  General,  abandoning 
the  pursuit  of  La  Gargia,  arrived 
by  a  forced  march  to  their  assis- 
tance and  Santa  Ana  was  com^ 
pelled  to  retire.    The  rest  of  the 
month  of  August  was  passed  in 
inaction,  but  every  day  added  to 
the  distresses  and  difficulties  of 
the  Spaniards.    The  reinforce 
ments  which  they  expected  from 
Cuba  did  not  arrive  ;  the  number 
of  the  sick  daily  increased  ;  and 
the  army  of  Santa  Ana  was  con- 
stantly receiving  accessions  of 
fresh   troops    and    of  artillery. 
The  result  could  not  be  long  de- 
layed ;  and  on  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, General  Barradas  surren- 
dered upon  favorable  terms  of 
capitulation.       The  Spaniards 
evacuated  the  citadel,  and  deliv- 
ered up  their  arms,  standards  and 
ammunitions,  but  the  officers  were 
permitted  to  retain  their  swords ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  until  the 
arrival  of  transports  from  Havana, 
the  invaders  should   remain  at 
Vittoria,  defraying  their  own  ex- 
penses, and  giving  their  parol 
never  to  return  or  bear  arms 
against  the  Mexican  republic. 

The  success  of  Santa  Ana  was 
hailed  by  the  people  with  the  ut- 
most enthusiasm,  and  the  only 
effect  of  the  Spanish  invasion 
appeared  to  be  an  increase  of  the 
power  and  stability  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, by  the  distinction  of  a 


ABDICATION  OF  GUERRERO. 


219 


military  triumph.  But  the  gain 
was  only  temporary.  The  re- 
action of  feeling,  particularly 
among  the  military,  was  powerful 
in  the  extreme,  and  soon  resulted 
in  another  revolution,  less  violent 
indeed  than  those  which  had  pre- 
ceded it,  but  equally  effectual 
and  far  more  unaccountable. 

The  state  of  Yucatan  com- 
menced by  a  declaration  against 
the  Federal  Government  and  in 
favor  of  a  Central  Government. 
The  immediate  cause  of  discon- 
tent appears  to  have  been  the  re- 
luctance of  Guerrero  to  resign  the 
extraordinary  powers  with  which 
he  had  been  invested  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Spaniards ;  but  it 
is  probable  that  this  unwillingness 
was  only  seized  upon  by  his 
political  opponents  as  a  pretext 
for  resorting  to  violence.  Various 
insurrectionary  movements  of 
slight  importance  occurred  in 
several  of  the  States,  of  which 
the  Vice  President  Bustamente 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  prin- 
cipal instigator;  but  no  serious 
apprehensions  were  entertained 
by  Guerrero  and  his  party  until 
the  4th  of  December,  1 829,  the 
anniversary  of  the  Yorkino  revo- 
lution of  the  preceding  year. 
On  that  day  Bustamente  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  army 
of  reserve,  stationed  in  the  state 
of  Vera  Cruz,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion denouncing  the  abuses  and 
usurpations  of  the  executive,  and 
commenced  his  march  upon  the 
capital  to  enforce  the  reform  which 
he  alleged  to  be  necessary. 

Santa  Ana  published  an  ener- 
getic proclamation  promising  to 
support  Guerrero,  but  before  he 
had  reached  Salapa,  he  received 
news  of  his  overthrow. 

» 


Guerrero  immediately  resigned 
his  extraordinary  powers,  con- 
voked the  Congress,  and  appeal- 
ed to  them  for  support.  He  then 
left  the  Capital  with  a  small  body 
of  troops  to  meet  the  approach- 
ing enemy.  His  departure  was 
the  signal  for  the  troops  left  in 
the  city  of  Mexico  to  declare 
their  adherence  to  the  party  of 
Bustamente,  and  a  complete  and 
bloodless  revolution  was  effected 
on  the  22d  of  December.  Gen- 
eral Quintanar,  at  the  head  of  the 
troops  in  the  Capital,  made  a 
declaration  of  adherence  to  the 
plan  of  Bustamente,  urging  the 
assembling  of  a  council  of  gov- 
ernment, and  naming  three  per- 
sons to  compose  it,  one  of  whom 
was  the  President  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  justice.  At  dawn  the 
garrison  troops  peaceably  occu- 
pied the  citadel,  the  Acordadaj 
and  all  the  other  guard  posts  ex- 
cept the  Palace,  from  which  tliey 
were  fired  upon  for  a  short  timcj 
between  one  and  two  o'clock, 
and  again  from  about  half  past 
five,  A,  M.  to  nine,  when  that 
also  was  taken,  after  the  loss  of 
only  ten  or  twelve  men.  No 
disorder  took  place  afterwards^ 
and  the  shops  and  public  walks 
were  open  the  same  day  as  usuaL 

The  council  immediately  as- 
sembled, nominated  Quintanar 
and  Alaman  as  associates  with 
Sr.  Velez,  President  of  the  court 
of  justice,  to  exercise  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  they  began  their 
duties  that  very  evening.  Guer- 
rero thus  placed  between  two 
enemies  and  suspicious  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  small  number  of 
soldiers  who  still  adhered  to  him, 
found  himself  compelled  to  adopt 
the  only  safe  course  that  remained 


220 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  — 30^ 


to  him,  by  abdicating  the  Presi- 
dency and  returning  to  his  es- 
tate. His  example  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  Santa  Ana 
and  the  other  leaders  of  his  party, 
and  the  provisional  Government 
composed  of  Velez,  Alaman  and 
General  Quintanar,  assumed  the 
administration  of  affairs  until  the 
arrival  of  Bustamente.  Perfect 
tranquillity  was  at  once  restored 
to  the  Capital,  and  General  Bus- 
tamente was  elected  by  the  army 
as  the  temporary  successor  of 
Guerrero. 

This  latest  change  in  the  Gov- 
ernment is  remarkable  for  the 
number  and  variety  of  the  differ- 
ent parties  by  whose  united  in- 
fluence it  was  effected,  and  the 
difficulty  of  discovering  the  mo- 
tives by  which  some  of  them  can 
be  supposed  to  have  been  actuated. 
Federalist  and  Centralist,  York- 
inos  and  Escoceses  seem  to  have 
forgotten  all  their  animosities,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  discern  in  the 
composition  of  the  triumphant 
party,  any  distinctive  principle  by 
means  of  which  the  incongruities 
of  their  co-operation  can  be  ex- 
plained. Certain  it  is  that  the 
popularity  of  Guerrero  was  much 
diminished  even  among  his  own 
immediate  partisans,  and  that  his 
measures  after  his  elevation  to  the 
Presidency,  were  received  with 
but  litde  favor  by  the  people  in 
general. 

The  rich  were  displeased  with 
his  decree  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  which  yet  was  productive 
•of  but  little  benefit  to  the  slaves, 
whose  condition  was  already  but 
very  slightly  inferior  to  that  of 
the  citizens.  The  greatest  dis- 
content however  prevailed  among 


the  military,  and  as  in  all  the 
other  Mexican  revolutions,  the 
downfal  of  Guerrero  is  chiefly  to 
be  ascribed  to  their  immediate 
agency.  Its  consequence  upon 
the  republic,  were  of  no  great 
importance.  In  fact  the  revolu- 
tion cannot  be  considered  as  the 
triumph  of  one  party  over  another, 
and  not  likely  to  be  attended  with 
any  results  much  more  striking 
or  permanent,  than  a  change  of 
administration  produces  in  this 
country  or  in  England. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  the  fol- 
lowing States  of  the  Confedera- 
tion had  sent  in  their  adhesion  to 
the  new  order  of  things :  —  Mex- 
ico, Guanajuato,  Zacatecas,  Jalis- 
co, Queretero,  Puebla,  Vera  Cruz 
andOajaca.  Bustamente  had  ap- 
pointed the  Cabinet  already  pub- 
lished ;  and  the  old  ministers  had 
returned  to  their  homes. 

The  manifesto  published  by 
Bustamente  at  Mexico  on  receiv- 
ing the  Government,  is  very  long, 
and  promises  to  conduct  every- 
thing with  the  utmost  submission 
to  order  and  the  Constitution, 
speaking  of  the  continued  exer- 
cise of  the  extraordinary  powers 
by  Guerrero  as  very  improper, 
and  of  various  improvements  in 
the  administration  as  necessary 
and  required  by  the  public  exi- 
gencies and  the  public  wish. 

The  only  incident  of  moment 
which  appeared  to  grow  out  of 
the  demonstration  of  Bustamente, 
was  the  separation  of  the  State 
or  province  of  Yucatan  from  the 
confederacy,  which  was  declared 
by  a  Federal  Act  of  the  Provin- 
cial Legislature,  signed  at  Merida 
on  the  9th  of  November,  imme- 
diately after  the  issuing  of  the 


BUSTAMENTE  PRESIDENT. 


proclamation  of  the  Vice  Presi- 
dent. And  even  this,  it  is  not 
improbable,  would  have  taken 
place  although  perhaps  not  so 
soon,  had  Guerrero  continued  to 
fill  the  presidential  chair.  In 
fact  the  little  importance  of  the 
revolution,  as  it  is  called,  consid- 
ered with  reference  to  its  effects 
upon  the  policy  and  condition  of 
the  republic,  is  proved  by  the 
facility  with  which  it  was  accom- 
plished, and  the  remarkably  short 
period  in  which  perfect  tranquillity 
was  restored.  It  remains  to  be 
seen  how  long  the  Government 


of  Bustamente  is  to  continue, 
and  whether  and  to  what  extent 
his  administration  is  likely  to  ad- 
vance the  interests  and  improve 
the  condhion  of  the  people.  Up 
to  the  present  time  (August,  1830) 
everything  has  gone  on  well  and 
harmoniously.  No  incident  of  im- 
portance has  occurred  since  the 
installation  of  the  new  President, 
and  he  is  represented  as  popular, 
and  as  being  actively  and  suc- 
cessfully engaged  in  the  arduous 
task  of  restoring  the  finances,  and 
augmenting  the  wealth  and  power 
of  the  republic. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


C  OLOMBIA  . 


Mosquer a  elected  President.  —  Castilloes  project  of  a  Constitution. 
Congress  convolved,  on  January,  1830.  —  Attempt  to  introduce 
a  Monarchy.  —  Revolt  of  Cordova.  —  Arrival  of  Bolivar  at  Bo- 
gota.  —  Resigns  Ms  office  to  Congress.  —  Message  to  Congress  : 
Character  of  do.  —  Separation  of  Venezuela.  —  Causes  of  Dis- 
content. —  Overthrow  of  Government.  —  Negotiations.  —  Mos- 
quera  chosen  by  Congress.  —  Commotions  at  Bogota.  —  Constitu- 
tion accepted.  —  Sucre  assassinated. — Movements  in  favor  of 
Bolivar.  —  Dissolution  of  the  Government.  —  Bolivar  reassumes 
the  Government.  —  Bolivar^ s  Death. 


The  history  of  Colombia  during 
the  period  which  falls  within  the 
history  of  this  year  is  so  interwov- 
en with  former  events,  that  for  the 
purpose  of  a  full  understanding  of 
its  political  relations,  it  will  be 
necessary  briefly  to  recapitulate. 

In  the  last  volume  of  the  Regis- 
ter will  be  found  a  detailed  account 
of  the  manoeuvres  which  resulted 
in  the  appointment  of  Bolivar  as 
Supreme  Chief  of  the  republic. 
In  this  station  he  remained  until 
the  4th  of  May,  1820,  at  which 
period  the  Constituent  Congress 
having  received  his  eighth  and 
last  renunciation,  elected  Senor 
Joachim  Mosquera,  President  of 
Columbia. 

During  this  last  administration 
of  the  Government  by  Bolivar, 
certain  facts  occurred,  which  as 
having  an  important  bearing  on 
the  sub^quent    history  of  the 


country,  we  will  now  proceed  to 
detail. 

The  Liberator  having  been  in- 
vested with  unlimhed  authority, 
named  a  council  of  State  to  assist 
him  in  the  administration  of  the 
public  affairs,  composed  of  the 
following  inidviduals  : 
Jose  Maria  Castillo,  President  of 

the  Council, 
Jose  Manuel  Restrepo,  Secretary 

of  the  Interior, 
Gen.  Rafael  Urdaneta,  Secretary 

of  War, 

Istanislao  Vergusa,  Secretary  of 

Foreign  Affairs, 

Nicolos  Fanno,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  Geronimo  For- 
nes,  Joachim  Mosquera,  Jose 
Felix  Valdivia,  the  Archbishop  of 
Bogota,  Maotin  Santiago  of  Ycusa, 
and  Colonel  Domingo  Espinar, 
Secretaries. 

Mosquera  unwillingly  accepted 


CONGRESS. 


223 


the  appointment  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  Bolivar  and  after  three 
months  sent  in  his  resignation  and 
retired. 

During  the  first  session  of  the 
council,  Senor  Castillo,  submitted 
the  project  of  a  Constitution,  which 
throws  some  additional  light  upon 
the  motives  and  designs  of  the 
dominant  party.  According  to  this 
project  the  executive  power  was 
vested  in  a  President  without  re- 
sponsibility and  five  ministers  of 
State  to  be  appointed  by  him  and 
responsible  for  all  the  acts  of  the 
executive. 

The  legislative  power  was  to  be 
composed  of  two  chambers,  one 
of  senators,  who  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  President,  who 
could  remove  them  at  pleasure, 
and  the  lower  house  of  representa- 
tives, one  to  be  chosen  by  each 
province. 

There  was  also  to  be  an  exec- 
utive council  of  State  composed 
of  the  Vice  President,  who  was  to 
be  elected  by  the  Provinces,  and 
the  Secretaries  of  State  and  a  num- 
ber of  deputies  from  the  chamber 
of  representatives.  All  the  coun- 
cillors, with  the  exception  of  Mos- 
quera,  approved  of  this  basis. 
Mosquera  expressed  an  opinion 
adverse  to  the  project  founded  on 
various  reasons,  of  which  the  prin- 
cipal ones  were,  that  in  his  judg- 
ment, allowing  that  the  acts  of  the 
people  were  the  expression  of  their 
free  will,  still  they  had  conferred 
the  dictatorship  upon  Bolivar,  only 
until  the  next  assembly  of  the 
national  representation,  and  that 
these  words  were  an  express  re- 
serve of  the  right  of  constituting  a 
Congress  of  Deputies  of  their  own 
free  choice.    He  also  observed, 


that  the  Colombians  had  generally 
manifested  their  opposition  to  a 
Senate  subject  to  the  pleasure  of 
the  executive,  and  although  it 
would  be  joined  by  a  chamber  of 
duputies,  they  v/ere  few  in  number 
and  utterly  disproportioned  to  the 
population  of  the  provinces. 

Finally  he  explained  the  causes, 
which  induced  him  to  believe  that 
if  such  a  Constitution  were  given 
to  Colombia,  it  would  produce 
another  revolution. 

The  Liberator  then  said,  that 
although  there  was  but  one  vote  in 
opposition,  the  reasons  advanced 
by  Mosquera  gave  him  great  pain 
and  he  would  take  time  to  delib- 
erate. 

On  the  following  day  he  de- 
clared to  the  council  his  opinion 
agreeing  with  Mosquera  and  the 
project  was  abandoned. 

The  Supreme  Chief  then  pub- 
lished the  organic  decree  of  the 
27th  August,  1828,  which  was  to 
serve  as  a  provisional  Constitution 
until  the  second  of  January,  1830, 
for  which  period  he  offered  to 
convoke  the  national  representa- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  new 
Constitution  to  the  Republic. 

After  the  termination  of  the 
war  with  Peru,  by  the  treaty  of 
peace  concluded  in  Guayaquil  on 
the  22d  September,  1829,  public 
attention  was  directed  to  the 
meeting  of  the  constituent  Con- 
gress convoked  for  the  2d  of  Jan- 
uary, 1830,  with  the  view  of  giving 
a  complete  and  efficient  reorgani- 
zation of  the  republic  upon  a  firm 
and  permanent  basis. 

On  arriving  at  this  epoch,  which 
has  terminated  in  universal  confu- 
sion, we  will  briefly  review  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  facts  which. 


224 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


have  thus  placed  Colombia  on  the 
brink  of  ruin  and  shaken  her  po- 
h'tical  fabric  to  its  foundation. 

During  the  absence  of  Bolivar 
in  the  South,  the  administration  of 
the  Government  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  his  council  of  Ministers. 

It  had  before  been  suggested, 
that  the  most  appropriate  form  of 
government  for  Colombia,  was  a 
Monarchy,  and  the  present  mo- 
ment wrs  seized  upon  to  effect 
the  change. 

M.  de  Bresson  and  the  Duke  of 
Montebello  had  just  arrived  at  Bo- 
gota as  Commissioners  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  the  project  was 
proposed  to  them,  with  the  under- 
standing that  if  France  would  ren- 
der her  assistance,  they  would 
propose  the  coronation  of  a 
French  Prince. 

This  treasonable  project  was 
mainly  supported  by  Gen.  Rafael 
Urdaneta,  a  member  of  the  coun- 
cil and  Istanislao  Vergusa,  Secre- 
tary of  Foreign  Relations. 

The  French  Commissioners 
merely  replied  that  they  would 
inform  the  government  of  the  pro- 
posal, as  they  had  no  authority  to 
act  in  an  affair  of  this  character, 
and  the  French  Government  up 
to  this  period  has  not  interfered. 

This  affair  constitutes  one  of 
those  blots  in  the  career  of  Bolivar, 
which  the  memory  of  his  good 
deeds  is  scarcely  sufficient  to 
efface. 

That  Bolivar  knew  of  the  pro- 
ject there  is  no  doubt,  that  he  dis- 
approved of  it  is  equally  true  ;  but 
his  subsequent  conduct  clearly 
indicates  that  his  disapproval  was 
grounded  not  on  his  opposition  to 
a  monarchy  but  to  a  French  mon- 
•arch. 


General  Urdaneta  wrote  to 
Paez  at  Venezuela  communicating 
to  him  the  designs  of  the  council 
of  ministers,  and  as  will  presently 
appear,  produced  an  excitement, 
which  was  only  quieted  by  the 
separation  of  that  ancient  province 
from  the  Republic  of  Colombia. 

Meanwhile,  Jose  Maria  Cordo- 
va, general  of  division,  arrived  from 
the  South  and  placing  himself  at 
the  head  of  some  patriots  in  the 
province  of  Novita,  raised  the  cry 
of  liberty.  The  Governor  of  the 
province  of  Novita  followed  his 
example  ;  but  the  movement  was 
partial  and  ineffectual. 

The  council  of  ministers, 
knowing  the  intrepidity  and  patri- 
otism of  Cordova  had  prepared 
themselves  for  the  ^emergency. 
And  a  strong  column  was  imme- 
diately despatched  from  Bogota 
against  him,  headed  by  General 
O'Leary,  by  whom  he  was  defeat- 
ed, and  mortally  wounded,  not 
without  suspicions  that  his  wounds 
were  not  received  in  battle. 

Bolivar,  who  was  still  in  the 
South,  and  who  knew  full  well 
the  disposition  of  Cordova,  receiv- 
ed from  him  a  letter  in  which  he 
declared  with  frankness  and  ener- 
gy his  firm  resolve  to  die  if  neces- 
sary in  defence  of  the  liberty  of 
his  country  and  the  republican 
system. 

The  inflammatory  state  of  V^en- 
ezuela  and  the  causes  which  were 
there  preparing  another  revolution 
were  equally  known  to  him,  and 
filled  with  alarm  and  disquietude, 
he  set  out  on  his  march  for  the 
Capital.  The  precarious  situation 
of  public  affairs  and  the  increasing 
distrust  of  his  own  motives  and 
designs,  at  length  determined  the 


MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS. 


Liberator  again  and  for  the  last 
time  to  retire  from  the  civil  com- 
mand, still  however  offering  to 
sustain  with  his  sword  the  Consti- 
tution which  the  new  Congress 
should  give  to  the  republic. 

In  the  department  of  the  South, 
the  popular  choice  fixed  upon 
Mosquera,  who  was  then  in  Pa- 
payan,  having  withdrawn  himself 
from  public  affairs  since  his  retire- 
ment from  the  office  of  State 
Councillor.  Bolivar  on  his  march 
from  the  South  visited  Mosquera 
in  Papayan  and  urged  upon  him 
his  wish,  that  he  would  consent 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the 
chair  of  State. 

It  was  said,  that  Mosquera  at 
first  declined  the  dangerous  hon- 
or, pleading  his  ill  health  and  his 
repugnance  to  undertake  so  ar- 
duous a  charge  as  that  of  re- 
conciling the  discordant  materials 
of  which  Colombia  was  com- 
posed. 

It  certainly  was  a  difficult  mat- 
ter for  a  single  citizen  to  under- 
take to  quiet  the  tempest  then 
raging  in  the  republic,  and  how- 
ever highly  we  think  of  the  patri- 
otism and  talents  of  Mosquera, 
we  are  disposed  to  question  his 
power  to  have  controlled  the  in- 
dependence of  the  immense 
number  of  military  chieftains 
with  which  the  country  was  ha- 
rassed, and  which  had  in  fact  ren- 
dered it  a  military  republic. 

Bolivar  arrived  at  Bogota  on 
the  15th  of  January,  1830,  and  on 
the  26th  of  the  same  month  in- 
stalled the  Constituent  Congress 
of  the  republic. 

In  his  message  to  Congress  of 
the  same  date,  he  makes  use  of 
these  remarkable  words ; 
20 


'  If  it  had  not  been  my  lot  to 
possess  the  honorable  advantage 
of  calling  upon  you  to  represent 
the  rights  of  the  people,  that  in 
conformity  with  the  wishes  of 
your  constituents,  you  might  re- 
model our  institutions,  this  would 
be  the  place  to  exhibit  to  you  the 
fruit  of  twenty  years'  exertions 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  my 
country.  But  it  is  not  for  me  to 
point  out  what  all  the  citizens  have 
the  right  to  demand  from  you. 
I  alone  am  deprived  of  this  civic 
privilege,  because  having  called 
you  together  and  explained  your 
duties,  it  is  not  permitted  me  in 
any  manner  to  influence  your 
counsels.  It  would  be  superflu- 
ous to  repeat  to  the  delegates  of 
the  people  what  Colombia  has 
written  in  characters  of  blood. 
My  only  duty  is  reduced  to  unre- 
stricted submission  to  the  laws 
and  the  magistrates  you  may  be- 
stow upon  us,  and  my  fervent  as- 
piration is  that  the  will  of  the 
people  may  be  proclaimed,  re- 
spected and  fulfilled  by  its  dele- 
gates.' 

After  recommending  in  the 
strongest  terms  the  necessity  of 
naming  another  individual  for  the 
chair  of  State,  he  proceeds. 
'  Believe  me,  a  new  magistrate  is 
indispensable  for  the  republic. 

'  The  people  wish  to  know  if  I 
shall  ever  cease  to  command. 
Show  yourselves,  citizens,  worthy 
of  representing  a  free  people  by 
banishing  every  idea  that  op- 
poses me  necessary  to  the  repub- 
lic. 

'  A  state  dependent  on  one  man 
ought  not  to  exist,  and  will  not 
exist.    Hear    my  supplirat'ois 
Save  the  republic  !  Preserve  my 


226 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


glory,  which  is  the  glory  of 
Colombia.  Dispose  of  the  office 
of  President,  which  I  respect- 
fully resign  into  your  hands. 
From  this  day  I  am  no  more  than 
a  citizen,  armed  to  defend  my 
country  and  ready  to  obey  its  laws. 
Discontinue  my  public  employ- 
ments forever.  I  make  to  you 
a  formal  and  solemn  delivery  of 
the  supreme  authority  which  the 
national  suffrages  have  conferred 
upon  me.' 

Besides  the  message  of  the  Li- 
berator, there  was  presented  to 
Congress  by  his  order,  an  exposi- 
tion relating  to  the  different  bran- 
ches of  administration,  and  the 
political  circumstances  of  the  Re- 
public. 

This  document,  signed  by  the 
President  of  the  council,  25th  of 
January,  1830,  after  pointing  out 
the  evils  which  had  afflicted  the 
republic,  contains  the  following 
extraordinary  expressions. 

'  During  the  last  four  years 
there  have  been  discussions  more 
or  less  warm,  more  or  less  impar- 
tial, upon  the  form  of  government 
suited  to  Colombians,  and  in  the 
multitude  of  writings,  the  opinions 
of  almost  all  the  citizens  have 
been  expressed. 

'  All  without  exception  have 
manifested  their  desire  for  the 
establishment  of  a  government, 
which  shall  be  the  firmest  founda- 
tion of  liberty,  which  shall  secure 
individual  rights,  and  preserve  sa- 
cred the  inviolability  of  property 
of  every  kind.  In  regard  to  the 
executive  power  alone,  there  are 
differences  of  opinions.  Some  de- 
sire a  Supreme  Magistrate  for  life, 
others  an  Hereditary  Monarch, 


but  the  greater  part  prefer  an 
elective  and  temporal  Chief  Ma- 
gistrate.' 

It  may  be  necessary  with  a  view 
to  a  full  and  complete  understand- 
ing of  the  important  events  of  this 
year,  to  explain  the  character  of 
the  Congress  to  which  this  mes- 
sage was  addressed.  The  elec- 
tions were  undoubtedly  free  and 
regular.  The  different  parties  ex- 
erted themselves  as  customary  in 
contested  elections,  in  favor  of  their 
respective  candidates ;  and  the 
contest  terminated  in  the  choice 
of  a  large  majority  of  ancient  and 
well  tried  patriots,  and  among  the 
most  illustrious  in  Colombia. 
Among  the  deputies  at  large. 
Bolivar  had  unquestionably  a  ma- 
jority, embracing  therein  a  portion 
of  those,  w  ho  were  in  favor  of  a 
republican  system  of  government, 
and  who  were  unwilling  to  be- 
lieve the  Liberator  other  than 
friendly  to  the  system,  which  they 
themselves  were  pledged  to  sup- 
port. The  conduct  of  Bolivar  at 
this  moment,  when  the  mere  ex- 
pression of  his  opinions  in  favor  of 
a  republic,  would  have  prostrated 
the  hopes  of  the  agitators  and  gone 
far  to  have  reconciled  the  feuds  ex- 
isting throughout  the  country,  was 
vacillating  and  temporizing.  He 
refused  to  continue  in  office,  but 
declined  the  expression  of  his 
opinion  as  to  the  form  of  Consti- 
tution they  should  adopt.  It  is 
certain,  had  it  been  his  wish,  Bo- 
livar might  have  been  elected 
President,  but  the  deference  of 
that  portion  of  his  friends,  who 
were  attached  to  a  liberal  form  of 
government  and  who  held  the  bal- 
ance of  power,  would  carry  them 


CAUSES  OF  DISCONTENT.  227 


no  further,'  and  as  he  persisted  in 
his  refusal  to  serve,  they  waited  on 
another  candidate.  Meanwhile 
the  long  smothered  flame  burst 
forth,  and  Venezuela,  with  Paez 
at  her  head,  declared  herself  in- 
dependent of  the  Central  Govern- 
ment at  Bogota. 

We  will  here  briefly  trace  the 
causes  which  led  to  this  result. 

From  the  year  1821,  when  the 
Constitution  of  Colombia  was  first 
proclaimed,  the  municipality  of 
Caraccas  on  taking  the  oath  ob- 
served, that  that  portion  of  the 
republic  had  not  been  properly 
represented  in  the  formation  of 
that  compact,  and  repeated  mani- 
festations of  discontent  were  sub- 
sequently evinced  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Venezuela  towards  the 
government  at  Bogota,  which  ex- 
cited fears,  that  they  would  think 
of  separating  from  the  rest  of  the 
republic.  In  IP26,  as  we  have 
before  remarked  in  a  previous 
volume  of  this  work,  a  revolution 
broke  out  proclaiming  the  federal 
form  of  government,  and  although 
the  Liberator  was  able  at  that 
time  to  repress  it,  the  fire  of  dis- 
cord Gtill  burnt  unnoticed.  In  the 
department  of  the  South,  and 
particularly  in  Quito  (capital  of 
the  department  of  the  Equator) 
they  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Constitution  in  1822,  after 
having  freed  themselves  from  the 
Spanish  sway,  but  expressed  their 
unwillingness  to  be  dependent  on 
a  Central  Government  resident  at 
Bogota. 

From  the  first,  they  constantly 
insisted,  that  the  Constitution 
had  been  formed  without  their 
concurrence,  being  at  the  tine 
of  its  promulgation  under  the 
yoke  of  Spain. 


The  Constitution  was  indeed 
obeyed,  but  a  jealous  distrust  of 
the  government  at  Bogota,  was 
evinced  even  in  the  act  of  render- 
ing it  obedience. 

This  jealousy,  hke  that  which 
exists  in  our  own  country,  was 
excited  and  fostered  as  well  by 
local  parties  as  by  the  peculiar 
situation  of  the  country. 

The  two  great  branches  of  hu- 
man industry.  Manufactures  and 
Agriculture,  were  brought  into 
direct  collision.  While  the  de- 
partments of  the  North  were  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuits, 
the  labor  and  wealth  of  the  South 
were  entirely  devoted  to  manu- 
factures. 

Instead  of  mutual  assistance 
and  support,  dependent  as  they 
are  upon  each  other,  the  same 
petty  jealousies,  that  have  else- 
where been  exhibited  between 
these  important  branches  of  do- 
mestic industry  prevailed  there 
to  the  fullest  extent,  and  seemed 
to  widen  the  breach,  which  was 
ajready  almost  beyond  repair. 

The  plan  of  the  Bolivian  con- 
federation reanimated  the  projects 
of  the  South  and  of  Venezuela 
in  favor  of  the  federal  system,  and 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  Constitution. 

The  following  letter,  written  by 
General  Bolivar  to  General 
Herez,  who  was  then  living  at 
Lima  as  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  State,  having  received  his  ap- 
pointment as  such  from  the  Libe- 
rator, served  to  encourage  the 
hopes  of  the  dissentients. 

Dec,  4,  1826. 

During  the  eight  days  that  I 
have  retnalned  in  Bogota,  1  have 
been  solely  engaged  in  enforcing 


228  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


upon  the  Vice  President  and  Se- 
cretaries, the  necessity  of  adopt- 
ing the  plan  of  the  confederacy 
of  the  six  States,  and  I  believe 
that  the  Vice  President  will  sup- 
port it  with  all  his  influence.  We 
have  agreed  not  to  reassemble  the 
Congress,  and  to  convoke  a  Grand 
Convention,  when  it  will  be  easy 
to  confirm  the  right  of  that  which 
in  fact  now  exists.  Venezuela  is 
in  truth  independent,  and  she  will 
enter  deeply  into  this  plan,  be- 
cause torn  to  pieces  by  warm 
passions  and  by  jarring  interests, 
vacillating  without  a  government, 
and  full  of  misery  as  she  is,  she 
cannot  but  adopt  it  with  pleasure. 
All  the  South  anxiously  desires  it 
and  New  Grenada  cannot  remain 
isolated  between  two  States  em- 
bracing its  boundaries.  This  let- 
ter, as  respects  its  politics,  is  also 
for  General  Santa  Cruz  and  his 
worthy  ministers,  to  whom  you 
will  impart  these  suggestions,  that 
they  may  be  prepared  when  Pe- 
rez shall  propose  to  Colombia  the 
confederatioH  heretofore  agreed 
on. 

The  Constitution  being  thus 
overthrown,  various  efforts  were 
made  to  restore  it,  and  the  best 
hopes  of  the  people  tested  on  the 
Congress  of  1830. 

These  hopes  however  proved 
fallacious,  the  expectations  from 
the  Congress  were  destroyed  by 
the  plan  of  a  monarchy  before 
mentioned,  and  Venezuela,  alarm- 
ed at  the  prospect,  declared  a 
separation. 

The  25th  November,  1829, 
Caraccas  declared  her  separation 
from  New  Grenada,  by  disown- 
ing the  authority  of  Bolivar,  and 
all  the  provinces  of  the  ancient 


Captain  Generalship  of  Venezue- 
la followed  the  example. 

The  cause  assigned  was  the 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  heads 
of  the  government  to  subject  Ve- 
nezuela to  a  monarch. 

General  Pedro  B.  Mendez  in 
a  letter  to  General  Bermudez 
published  by  him,  makes  use  of 
this  strong  ex])ression.  After 
describing  in  studied  language  the 
advantages  of  monarchy,  he  says, 
'  the  principal  question  in  New 
Grenada  is,  as  to  the  best  means 
of  carrying  it  into  effect.' 

This  disclosure  was  followed 
by  a  burst  of  indignation,  which 
resounded  throughout  the  repub- 
lic, and  convinced  the  partisans 
of  the  measure,  of  the  difficult 
nature  of  their  undertaking  to  de- 
liver over  the  country  into  the 
hands  of  a  foreign  monarch.  A 
representation  signed  by  1500 
citizens  of  Caraccas  on  the  24tli 
Dec.  1829,  was  sent  to  General 
Bolivar,  informing  him  of  their 
resolution,  and  concluding  whli 
these  words  — 

'  The  world  will  investigate  the 
causes  of  the  misfortunes,  deaths, 
and  horrors  which  will  ensue, 
and  will  not  be  deceived  by  the 
pretexts,  by  which  they  are 
sought  to  be  imputed  to  us.  We 
would  leave  open  the  graves  of 
the  victims,  that  our  posterity  may 
see  the  blood  shed  by  their  fath- 
ers, and  the  wounds  which  they 
received  from  the  hands  of  those 
who  wished  to  destroy  their  heroic 
patriotism.' 

The  news  of  the  commotion 
in  Venezuela  and  her  separation 
from  the  republic,  having  reached 
Bogota,  the  question  was  at  once 
presented  to  Congress :  whether 


NEGOTIATIONS. 


222 


force  should  be  employed  to 
compel  a  submission  to  the  central 
government,  or  conciliating  mea- 
sures adopted.  Bolivar  proposed 
to  Congress  on  the  27th  of  Janua- 
ry, 1 830,  to  go  personally  to  treat 
with  Paez,  on  the  boundary  line 
of  Venezuela,  in  order  to  bring 
him  over  to  the  union  ;  and  to 
make  his  efforts  of  more  avail, 
he  recommended  diat  Congress 
should  by  direct  vote  authorize 
him  to  undertake  the  mission. 
After  a  long  debate,  it  was  resolv- 
ed, to  send  to  Venezuela  commis- 
sioners authorized  to  treat  with 
Paez,  and  instructed  to  present  to 
him  and  the  towns  under  his  con- 
trol, the  basis  of  the  Constitution 
framed  for  Colombia,  according  to 
which,  the  Government  was  to  be 
republican,  popular,  representa- 
tive, elective,  alternative  and  re- 
sponsible. General  Antonio  Jose 
de  Sucre,  Jose  Maria  Estenes, 
Bishop  of  Santa  Marta,  and 
Francesco  Aranda,  members  of 
the  same  Congress,  were  named 
for  this  commission  of  peace,  and 
it  was  believed,  that  Venezuela  on 
understanding  the  basis  of  the 
new  Constitution,  would  desist 
from  the  undertaking  of  separa- 
ting herself  from  the  republic  and 
the  formation  ol  an  independent 
State. 

In  the  meantime  the  battalion 
of  Boyaca  raised  the  cry  of  liberty, 
disowned  the  authority  of  the  lib- 
erator, and  being  unable  to  sustain 
itself  against  the  forces  in  Magda- 
lena,  set  out  for  Maracaibo  and 
put  itself  under  the  command  of 
the  nevvgovernment  of  Venezuela. 

Congress  meanwhile  proceeded 
in  the  discussion  of  the  project  of 
a  Constitution,  recognising  the 
20* 


central  form  of  government.  It 
was  feared  even  before  its  adop- 
tion, that  tiie  Constitution  would 
be  shipwrecked  on  one  of  two 
shoals,  eitlier  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  sustain  it  by  forc(^,  in 
order  to  insure  its  adoption  by 
Venezuela,  and  expose  the  coun- 
try to  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  or 
tiiat  it  would  fall  through  from  the 
separation  of  Venezuela  and  the 
consequent  want  of  the  consent  of 
all  the  States,  necessary  to  its 
adoption. 

The  Government  then  existing 
at  Bogota,  sent  a  division  under 
the  command  of  General  O'Leary 
to  the  dividing  line  of  Venezuela 
and  New  Grenada  to  prevent  the 
progress  of  the  revolution  in  that 
part  of  Colombia  which  encamped 
in  Pampluna,  while  the  govern- 
ment of  Venezuela,  fearing  an  at 
tack,  on  their  part  sent  another 
column  to  the  frontier  of  New 
Grenada  under  the  command  of 
General  Santiago  Marino  which 
took  up  its  quarters  in  Gaudalito. 
On  all  sides,  the  dread  of  a  civil 
war  prevailed,  the  prospect  of 
which  was  rendered  the  more  ter- 
rible from  the  fact,  that  the  de- 
partments of  the  South  were  in- 
clined to  follow  the  example  of 
Venezuela  and  to  constitute  them- 
selves into  independent  States. 

A  confederation  was  proposed 
by  some  as  a  means  of  harmoniz- 
ing local  pretensions  and  preserv- 
ing the  national  integrity,  but  men 
of  influence  in  Bogota  opposed  if 
and  Congress  rejected  the  mea 
sures  considering  themselves  as 
sembled  in  conformity  with  the 
fundamental  law,  constituting 
New  Grenada  and  Venezuela  into 
a  central  republic,  and  as  therefore 


230  ANNUAL  REGIS 

invested  with  no  other  power  than 
that  of  remodelling  the  Constitu- 
tion upon  the  basis  of  a  central 
Governnrient. 

A  project  was  then  proposed  by 
some  of  the  deputies,  of  district 
assemblies  of  the  departments, 
with  the  power  of  deliberating  in 
all  municipal  matters  and  of  pro- 
posing to  the  executive  the  Pre- 
fects of  their  respective  depart- 
ments :  which  project  was  adopted 
and  incorporated  into  the  Consti- 
tution. 

But  the  agitation  was  great  on 
all  sides,  and  Venezuela  still  re- 
mained unmoved.  New  proofs 
of  the  inflexible  resolution  to  sep- 
arate daily  arrived  at  Bogota,  and 
in  nearly  all  the  acts  of  its  govern- 
ment and  in  the  public  papers, 
was  manifested  an  inveterate  aver- 
sion to  Bolivar,  who  they  suppos- 
ed, was  to  obtain  the  command 
of  the  republic. 

Among  the  population  of  New 
Grenada  itself,  there  was  evinced 
much  sympathy  with  the  Venezue- 
lians,  and  a  repugnance  to  the  em- 
ployment offeree  to  compel  a  sub- 
mission to  the  central  government, 
ard  petitions  were  presented  in 
March  to  Congress  from  nearly 
all  the  towns  of  the  pjovinces  Pa- 
payan,  Pasto,  Buoniaventuera, 
Choco,  Neiva  and  Pampluna, 
praying  that  war  might  not  be 
declared  against  Venezuela  and 
that  the  Federal  system  or  con- 
federative  form  of  government 
might  be  adopted  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  Colombia. 

In  the  province  of  ,  another 

revolution  broke  out  on  the  4th  of 
April,  disowning  the  general  gov- 
ernment and  placing  itself  under 
the  protection  of  Venezuela. 

About  the  middle  of  April  the 
division  under  the  command  of 


L'ER,  1829  —  30. 

General  Marino  approached  the 
Tachura  (the  river  which  sepa- 
rates the  territories  ofNew  Grena- 
da and  Venezuela)  and  on  the  21st 
of  April  the  inhabhants  of  Cucuta 
proclaimed  themselves  indepen- 
dent of  the  central  government, 
disavowed  the  authority  of  Boli- 
var, declared  themselves  infav  or 
of  the  federal  system,  and  asked 
the  protection  of  Marino  against 
the  body  of  troops  then  in  Pam- 
pluna. 

This  rev^olution  occurred  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Commissioners  on 
the  part  of  the  Congress,  who 
were  then  in  Cucuta,  having  been 
prohibited  by  an  order  from  Paez, 
from  entering  the  territories  of 
Venezuela. 

On  the  part  of  Venezuela,  Ma- 
rino, Ignacio  Fernandez  Peira 
and  M.  Tobar  were  named  as 
commissioners  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  the  commissioners  from 
Congress. 

They  met  in  San  Jose  de  Cu- 
cuta on  the  line  of  the  Tachura, 
on  the  18th  of  April,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  protocol  of  the  confer- 
ence published  in  the  Gazette  of 
Colombia,  the  official  paper  signed 
as  the  only  result*of  their  meeting, 
the  following  propositions  were 
presented  by  the  commissioners 
on  the  part  of  Venezuela. 

1.  That  it  be  permitted  to  New 
Grenada  and  the  departments  of 
the  South  to  constitute  themselves 
freely  and  independently  as  Vene- 
zuela had  done. 

2.  That  Congress  decide  on 
the  proper  means  to  promote  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  country 
and  to  preserve  the  public  credit, 
until  the  representatives  of  the 
different  States  should  agree  upon 
the  understanding  to  be  establish- 
ed among  them  for  the  future. 


CAICEDO'S  MESSAGE. 


231 


3.  That  no  individual  who  had 
enjoyed  the  executive  power  or 
had  been  Secretary  of  State  should 
be  again  appointed  to  those  offices. 

4.  That  necessary  measures 
should  be  taken  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  what  had  been  es- 
tablished in  the  first  proposition. 

5.  That  the  constituent  con- 
gresses of  the  three  States  of  the 
North,  Centre  and  South  should 
fix  upon  ties  adapted  to  bind  them 
together  for  the  future. 

6.  That  it  be  permitted  to  the 
officers  of  the  army  to  remove  to 
any  of  the  three  States,  and  that 
the  soldiers  should  be  at  liberty  to 
return  to  their  houses  —  and 

7.  That  no  individual,  civil  or 
military  be  molested  on  account 
of  his  political  opinions  up  to  that 
lime. 

Such  w^as  the  only  result  of  the 
mission  of  the  Congress  to  Vene- 
zuela. 

By  this  time  General  Bolivar 
had  retired  to  his  country  seat 
in  the  vicinity  of  Bogota,  and 
General  Caicedo,  who  was  then 
in  charge  of  the  Executive  pow- 
er, anxious  to  avoid  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  war  and  a  general  popu- 
lar commotion,  in  conformity  with 
the  expressed  opinions  of  the  dif- 
ferent provinces,  sent  to  Congress 
a  message,  which  on  account  of 
its  influence  on  public  affairs,  as 
well  as  the  unwarrantable  inter- 
ference caused  thereby  of  the 
British  minister,  whose  under- 
standing with  the  partisans  of 
Bolivar  was  by  such  interference 
fully  confirmed  —  we  publish  en- 
tire. 

Bogota,  April  13th,  1830. 
Most  excellent  President 

of  the  Constituent  Congress. 

Sir  —  A  great  portion  of  the 


Republic  being  in  a  state  of  com- 
motion, it  was  easy  to  see  that 
these  movements  would  soon  be 
communicated  to  the  other  towns 
and  that  the  tranquillity  of  these 
also  would  soon  be  disturbed. 
The  representation  addressed  by 

the  Prefect  of  ,  and  that 

of  the  commandant  of  Boyaca, 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  trans- 
mit to  your  Excellency,  are  the 
proofs  of  this  fact.  In  such  criti- 
cal circumstances,  and  with  the 
present  precarious  condition  of 
the  Government,  I  cannot  answer 
for  the  tranquillity  of  the  towns 
nor  the  security  of  the  country. 
For  some  days  past  the  Govern- 
ment has  entertained  the  opinion 
that  the  labor  of  the  Congress 
towards  the  formation  of  the  Con- 
stitution will  be  fruitless ;  under 
the  supposition  that  Venezuela 
is  disposed  to  resist  it  with  force  ; 
and  if  granted  for  the  Republic 
it  would  not  be  adopted  by  all  the 
departments. 

Of  what  use  would  a  Constitu- 
tion be  that  is  to  be  in  force  but 
for  a  single  day  ?  A  Constitution 
is  one  of  those  works  which  should 
be  framed  only  when  it  is  expect- 
ed it  will  be  obeyed.  If  the  con- 
trary is  the  case  it  is  better  to 
withhold  it.  A  grievous  evil  is 
inflicted  upon  the  towns  by  ac- 
customing them  to  look  upon  the 
Constitutions  framed  by  the  Na- 
tional Representation  as  mere 
unmeaning  pieces  of  paper. 

The  Government  is  of  opinion 
that  the  labors  of  Congress  would 
be  useless  to  the  nation  unless  di- 
rected to  the  granting  of  an  or- 
ganic decree,  pointing  out  the 
attributes  of  the  supreme  Govern- 
ment, insuring  individual  and  so- 
cial security,   naming  the  high 


232 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


functionaries  in  whose  hands  are 
to  be  placed  the  reins  of  State, 
and  authorizing  them  to  convoke 
a  Convention  for  the  purpose 
of  deciding  on  the  fate  of  these 
towns.  Such  is  the  general 
wish,  such  is  public  opinion,  and 
such  the  means  of  remedying 
the  evils  which  are"  not  merely 
feared  to  exist,  but  which  are,  in 
fact,  at  this  moment  in  contact 
with  us. 

The  movement  of  a  single 
Province  may  conduct  us  from 
partial  revolutions  to  absolute  dis- 
union and  anarchy.  If  the  union 
with  the  departments  of  Venezue- 
la is  possible,  the  representatives 
of  the  two  people  will  be  able 
while  tranquillity  exists  to  fix  upon 
the  union,  to  setde  their  differ- 
ences and  to  agree  upon  the  ties 
to  bind  them  for  the  future.  But 
in  the  midst  of  revolutions  and 
disorder,  the  people  will  precipi- 
tate themselves  to  ruin. 

Having  made  this  representa- 
tion to  you,  I  consider  it  my  duty 
to  declare  that  the  measure 
pointed  out  is  as  urgent  as  it  is 
necessary. 

Please  submit  it  to  the  wisdom 
of  Congress,  which,  penetrated 
with  the  best  desires,  will  un- 
doubtedly pursue  the  measures 
best  calculated  to  insure  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  people  and  the  well 
being  of  the  Republic. 

Domingo  Caicedo. 

The  message  having  been  read 
to  Congress,  was  referred,  with 
the  accompanying  documents,  to 
a  committee,  by  whom,  after  care- 
ful deliberation,  a  report  was 
made,  from  which  we  extract  the 
following : 

*In  this  state  of  affairs,  the 


committee  do  not  think  that  Con- 
gress  should  occupy  itself  with  the 
formation  of  a  provisional  Gov- 
ernment for  the  departments  of 
New  Gi-enada,  which  might  be 
rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  votes. 
The  committee  entertain  the  opin- 
ion that  some  consideration  is  due 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  Execu- 
tive, and  that  a  reply  should  be 
delayed  until  the  result  of  the 
mission  of  peace  to  Venezuela 
is  fully  known.  The  committee 
therefore  have  agreed  to  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  : 

'1.  Resolved,  That  before  re- 
plying to  the  message  of  the  Gov- 
ernment they  will  wait  for  the  re- 
sult of  the  mission  of  peace,  with- 
out in  the  meantime  suspending 
their  deliberations  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Constitution. 

'2.  Thatthe  Chief  of  the  Gov- 
ernment be  invited  to  a  confer- 
ence with  a  special  commission, 
that  by  means  of  mutual  explana- 
tions an  understanding  may  be 
effected.' 

Congress,  in  the  face  of  the 
report  of  the  committee, 

.  '  Resolved,  That  they  would  re- 
ply to  the  acting  Executive,  that 
Congress  was  occupied  with  de- 
vising means  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  the  threatened  disturban- 
ces, and  that  on  the  part  of  Gov- 
ernment every  effort  should  be 
made  to  calm  the  public  mind,  and 
to  reestablish  order  by  all  the 
means  in  its  control.' 

Congress  having  thus  deter- 
mined on  their  reply  to  the  mes- 
sage of  the  acting  Executive,  Mr 
Turner,  Envoy  Extraordinary  of 
His  Britannic  Majesty,  on  the 


COMMOTIONS  AT  BOGOTA. 


233 


19th  of  April,  addressed  a  note 
to  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Re- 
lations, in  which  he  says  that. '  He 
has  observed  with  equal  regret 
and  surprise  in  the  Government 
Gazette,  a  copy  of  an  official 
message  addressed  to  the  Con- 
gress by  the  Executive  power  of 
Colombia,  in  which  was  proposed 
the  formation  of  a  separate  Gov- 
ernment for  New  Grenada,  and 
the  consequent  dissolution  of  the 
Republic'  After  protesting 
against  any  wish  to  interfere  with 
the  domestic  concerns  of  Colom- 
bia, he  gives  notice  that,  ^  if  such 
a  measure  is  sanctioned  by  the 
Congress  and  carried  into  effect, 
the  existing  treaty  between  Great 
Britain  and  Colombia  would 
become  ipso  facto  annulled  and 
the  functions  of  the  undersigned 
will  cease 

The  Secretary  of  Foreign  Re- 
lations replied  that, '  The  message 
of  the  Government  of  the  15th, 
far  from  having  for  its  object  the 
dissolution  of  the  Republic,  was 
intended  lo  preserve  it ;  and  that 
the  measures  proposed  were  to 
lead  to  a  calm  deliberation  on  the 
part  of  ancient  Venezuela  and 
New  Grenada  to  restore  the  un- 
ion unfortunately  interrupted.' 

On  the  twentysecond  day  of 
April  there  was  much  alarm  in 
Bogota  on  account  of  a  suppos- 
ed intention  to  confer  anew  the 
supreme  power  irpon  Bolivar. 
This  arose  simply  from  the  pro- 
ceedingsof  Colonel  Diaz,who  was 
«ngaged  in  obtaining  signatures  in 
Bogota  to  a  petition  to  the  Con- 
gress, having  this  object  in  view, 
and  oi  other  officers  who  were 
similarly  engaged  in  several  of  the 
neighboring  towns.  But  the  at- 


tempt was  received  with  indigna- 
tion by  the  people,  and  General 
Caicedo  promptly  resorted  to  vig- 
orous measures  to  suppress  it,  ap- 
pointing Urdaneta,  who  was  the 
Governor  of  Bogota,  to  command 
the  troops  destined  to  oppose  the 
agitators.  On  the  27th  of  April 
Bolivar  sent  a  message  to  Con- 
gress renewing  the  protestations  of 
his  unwillingness  to  assume  the 
chief  command,  and  containing 
these  expressions  —  *  Venezuela, 
to  effect  its  separation  from  the 
Republic,  has  accused  me  of  am- 
bitious views.  It  will  now  allege 
that  my  reelection  will  prove  an 
obstacle  to  reconciliation  and  that 
in  the  end  the  Republic  must  un- 
dergo either  a  dismemberment  or 
a  civil  war.  It  is  the  duty  of  Con- 
gress to  give  to  the  towns  of  Co- 
lombia a  new  Magistrate,  invested 
with  powers  adequate  to  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  time  and  the  vigor- 
ous administration  of  the  laws.' 

General  Caicedo  had  ordered 
General  Velez  to  take  command 
of  the  division  of  Pampluna  but 
the  officers  of  the  division  disobey- 
ed the  mandate  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  refused  submission  to 
the  order  of  Velez,  having  enter- 
ed into  an  agreement  to  that  ef- 
fect on  the  29th  of  April.  This 
division  was  a  source  of  great  un- 
easiness to  the  people,  as  being 
under  the  control  of  neither  of  the 
Governments  of  Colombia  and 
V^enezuela.  Its  refusal  to  obey 
was  supposed  to  be  concerted  be- 
tween Montilla,  who  was  then  at 
Magdalena,  and  the  other  friends 
of  Bolivar,  who  wished  to  see 
him  resume  the  chief  command, 
and  this  was  a  new  motive  for 
distrust  and  alarm  in  those  whoso 


234 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


desire  was  to  see  quiet  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  laws  reestablish- 
ed. 

On  the  29th  of  April  the  Con- 
gress of  Colombia  ratified  the 
Constitution  of  the  Central  Re- 
public, notwithstanding  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  towns;  but  to  satisfy 
the  friends  of  the  federal  system 
it  was  decreed  that,  in  each  de- 
partment a  district  Chamber 
should  be  established  with  the 
power  of  directing  the  local  and 
municipal  afFairi  the  depart- 
ments. 

By  a  decree  of  the  11th  of  May, 
the  mode  of  nominating  and 
electing  the  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives was  established,  and  by 
another  decree  of  the  same  date, 
the  Province  of  Antiochia  was 
erected  into  a  Department. 

The  most  important  decree, 
however,  of  this  period,  was  that 
which  fixed  the  time  and  manner 
of  the  publication  of  the  Consti- 
tution. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  Congress 
went  into  an  election  of  President 
and  Vice  President  of  the  Re- 
public. There  were  three  can- 
didates, Canabal,  Caicedo  and 
Mosquera.  The  former  was  the 
candidate  of  the  Bolivian  party, 
the  two  latter,  of  the  liberal  and 
moderate  party.  Mosquera  es- 
pecially enjoyed  the  confidence  of 
all  parties,  as  a  patriot  of  strict 
probity  and  one  whose  desires  and 
actions  were  solely  directed  to  the 
wfilfare  of  his  country.  Bolivar 
had  himself  expressed  his  prefer- 
ence for  Mosquera,  but  it  was  un- 
derstood that  he  had  absolutely 
refused  to  accept  the  appointment 
if  conferred  upon  him  ;  assigning 
as  a  reason  his  infirm  state  of 


health  and  physical  debility,  pro- 
duced by  a  long  and  dangerous 
sickness,  from  which  he  was  just 
recovering.  Canabal  was  consid- 
ered as  the  candidate  of  the  mon- 
archial  party. 

On  the  first  ballot  the  votes 
were,  for  Canabal  26,  Mosquera 
17,  and  Caicedo  5  —  total  48. 

Two  thirds  being  necessary  to 
a  choice,  and  neither  candidates 
having  received  that  number,  a 
second  balloting  was  gone  into. 
The  result  was,  for  Mosquera  27, 
Canabal  17  and  Caicedo  5  —  to- 
tal 49.  The  third  balloting  was 
limited  to  the  two  highest  candi- 
dates and  the  result  was,  for  Mos- 
quera 34,  Canabal  17  —  total  51. 
Senor  Joachim  Mosquera  was 
therefore  declared  duly  elected 
President  of  Colombia.  For 
Vice  President  the  votes  were, 
for  Caicedo  33,  Canabal  12,  Val- 
larina  2  —  total  47.  General 
Domingo  Caicedo  was  therefore 
declared  elected  Vice  President. 
This  result  was  mainly  attribu- 
table to  that  portion  of  the  repre- 
sentation who,  entertaining  a  pre- 
ference for  Bolivar  and  an  ardent 
attachment  for  his  services,  were 
opposed  however  to  the  doctrines 
advanced  by  some  of  his  partisans ; 
a  concurrence  in  which  had  alrea- 
dy diminished  the  otherwise  de- 
served popularity  of  the  Liberator 
and  placed  the  Republic  on  the 
verge  of  ruin.  Bolivar,  in  a  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  congratulated 
them  on  the  result,  and  on  having 
chosen  for  the  first  offices  of  the 
Republic  men  who  had  deserved- 
ly obtained  the  esteem  and  confi- 
dence of  the  nation;  and  after- 
wards in  replying  to  an  address 
made  to  him  at  Carthagena  on 


COMMOTIONS  AT  BOGOTA. 


235 


the  eve  of  his  intended  departure 
for  Europe,  by  the  Prefect  of  that 
Department,  made  use  of  expres- 
sions highly  complimentary  to 
Mosquera,  describing  him  as  a 
man  '  adorned  with  all  the  civic 
virtues,  whose  administration 
would  effect  the  re-establishment 
of  the  laws  which  he  had  studied 
with  distinguished  reputation.' 

The  last  act  of  the  Congress 
was  the  enactment  of  a  decree 
tendering  the  gratitude  and  hom- 
age of  the  Republic  to  Bolivar, 
and  bestowing  upon  him  a  pen- 
sion of  thirty  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  for  Hfe,  commencing  at 
the  period  of  his  retirement  from 
office.  The  Congress  then  ad- 
journed, and  by  that  act  took  from 
Mosquera  the  power  of  declining 
the  Presidency,  as  was  his  inten- 
tion, which  by  the  Constitution 
could  only  be  done  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Congress.  By  a 
communication,  dated  the  1 4th  of 
May,  the  President  elect  adverted 
to  this  fact,  stating  that  he  should 
have  resigned  had  the  Congress 
been  in  session  to  receive  his  re- 
signation, believing  himself  inade- 
quate, both  physically  and  moral- 
ly, to  the  duties  of  the  office.  As 
it  was,  however,  he  thought  him- 
self bound  to  undertake  it  in  obe- 
'  dience  to  the  will  of  the  people, 
and  promised  to  devote  his  best 
energies  to  the  promotion  of  the 
public  good. 

The  time  was  prolific  of  diffi- 
culties and  troubles ;  and  the 
very  commencement  of  Mosque- 
ra's  administration  was  signalized 
by  commotion.  The  battalion 
which  at  that  lime  formed  the 
garrison  of  Bogota,  commanded 
by  Colonels  Maguerra  and  Cas- 


telli,  on  the  7th  of  May,  arrested 
those  officers,  placed  themselves 
under  the  orders  of  General  Por- 
to Carrero  and  demanded  of  the 
Vice  President,  who  was  at  that 
time  Governor  of  the  Province, 
their  arrears  of  pay,  amounting  to 
seventy  thousand  dollars  and  mo- 
ney to  defray  their  expenses  to 
Venezuela,  of  which  Province 
they  were  natives.  It  was  said 
at  the  time  and  has  since  been 
repeated,  that  Porto  Carrero  was 
the  instigator  of  this  mutiny,  and 
that  he  was  actuated  by  a  feeling 
of  dissatisfaction  because  Bolivar 
was  no  longer  in  power  ;  and  the 
assertion  has  been  in  some  degree 
confirmed  by  his  subsequent  con- 
duct in  uniting  himself  to  Bolivar, 
with  whom  he  continued  until  the 
death  of  that  remarkable  man. 

The  Vice  President,  having  no 
troops  under  his  control,  was 
obliged  to  temporize,  and  sent  to 
Bolivar,  requesting  his  interces- 
sion with  Porto  Carrero,  who  had 
declared  that  he  would  obey  no 
commands  but  such  as  should 
emanate  from  him.  The  Libera- 
tor declined  to  interfere,  and  the 
Vice  President  thus  left  to  his 
own  resources,  succeeded  in  rais- 
ing a  body  of  about  five  hundred 
troops,  which  he  placed  under  the 
command  of  General  Urdaneta, 
and  eventually  quelled  the  insur- 
rection without  resorting  to  arms, 
partly  by  the  demonstration  of  his 
power  to  resist  their  demands  and 
partly  by  promises  and  the  distri- 
bution of  some  money.  The  mu- 
tineers dispersed  and  joined  the 
various  bodies  of  soldiers  that 
were  collected  in  different  Prov- 
inces ;  many  of  which  gave  strong 
manifestations  of  a  disposition  to 


236  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


renew  and  increase  the  distrac- 
tions that  had  so  long  embarrass- 
ed the  Government  and  oppressed 
the  people.  In  Venezuela  in  par- 
ticular and  in  New  Grenada,  there 
were  numerous  chieftains,  whose 
designs  it  was  difficult  to  pene- 
trate, but  whose  conduct  was  such 
as  to  excite  suspicion  and  unea- 
siness in  the  minds  of  those  who 
desired  to  see  order  and  stability 
restored  to  the  Government  and 
the  people.  And  it  was  apparent 
that  the  task  which  Mosquera,  by 
his  acceptance  of  the  Presiden- 
tial authority,  had  undertaken  to 
accomplish,  would  prove  ex- 
tremely arduous. 

On  the  30th  of  April  the  Con- 
gress of  Venezuela  met  in  Valen- 
cia, and  on  the  same  day  received 
from  Paez  a  congratulatory  mes- 
sage, in  which  he  manifested  the 
most  favorable  opinion  of  the  re- 
establishmenf  of  public  order  and 
the  advancement  of  the  happi- 
ness of  Venezuela. 

The  progress  of  public  opinion 
in  favor  of  the  federal  system,  was 
still  permanent  and  increasing. 
On  the  13th  of  May,  Quito,  the 
most  populous  city  of  Colombia, 
and  the  capital  of  the  department 
of  the  Equator,  declared  itself  in 
favor  of  this  system,  and  its  ex- 
ample was  followed  by  Guayaquil 
and  Azuai,  the  other  departments 
of  the  south. 

General  Flores,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  department  of 
the  south,  lent  them  his  assistance, 
and  was  appointed  interior  chief 
of  those  departments,  until  the 
meeting  of  Congress  to  constitute 
them  into  a  separate  state,  and 
the  formation  of  a  federal  form  of 
government.    This  movement  in 


Quito  occurred  before  the  result 
of  the  deliberations  of  Congress 
on  the  subject  of  the  Constitution 
was  known,  and  seems  to  exhibit 
the  strong  opposition  existing 
thoughout  the  country  to  a  central 
government.  A  letter  from  Bol- 
ivar announcing  his  intention  of 
embarking  for  Europe,  had  a 
powerful  influence  on  the  conduct 
of  Elores.  Flores  knew  the  sen- 
timents of  the  people  of  the  south 
—  that  they  were  opposed  to  a 
central  form  of  government,  and 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  ob- 
tain for  it  support,  without  the 
effusion  of  much  blood,  and  a 
civil  war  with  Venezuela.  The 
letter  of  Bolivar,  freeing  him  from 
the  trammels  of  previous  engage- 
ments, left  him  at  liberty  to  pur- 
sue the  course  his  inclination  dic- 
tated, and  he  yielded  to  the  popu- 
lar impulse  of  the  country  in  which 
he  was,  and  in  which  his  interests 
were  identified  by  marriage  with 
a  young  lady  of  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  families  in  Quito. 

We  come  now  to  the  conduct 
of  Bolivar  during  this  critical  pe- 
riod of  public  affairs.  After  his 
retirement  from  the  supreme  com- 
mand, he  had,  as  we  have  before 
mentioned,  taken  up  his  residence 
at  his  country  seat  near  Carthage- 
na,  and  was  understood  to  be  pre- 
paring for  his  departure  to  Eu- 
rope. Whether  this  was  seriously 
his  intention  must  remain  matter 
of  conjecture.  The  letter  to  Flo- 
res seems  to  prove  it  was,  and 
another  fact  confirms  us  in  this 
impression.  Colonel  Whittle  was 
in  garrison  at  Papayan  with  the 
battalion  of  Vargas.  He  was  a 
devoted  friend  of  Bolivar,  having 
saved  his  life  in  the  conspiracy  of 


MOSaUERA'S  MESSAGE. 


237 


the  25th  of  Sept.  1829,  and  was 
considered  among  his  warnnest 
partisans.  This  officer  also  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Bolivar,  in- 
forming him  of  his  intention  to 
leave  the  country,  and  inviting 
him  to  accompany  him,  if  it  was 
his  wish  to  leave  Colombia.  An 
understanding  was  immediately 
effected  between  Colonel  Whittle 
and  General  Flores  in  regard  to 
the  popular  movements,  and  a 
warm  and  efficient  support  was 
yielded  by  these  officers  lothe 
federal  cause.  Tt  seems  unlikely 
that  Bolivar  should  have  thus  in- 
fluenced his  friends  to  submit 
themselves  to  the  new  order  of 
things,  if  it  had  been  his  intention 
to  have  remained  in  the  country 
and  resumed  the  supreme  com- 
mand. We  believe  it  was  his  own 
wish  and  serious  intention  to  have 
departed,  and  thereby  relieved 
his  country  from  the  distraction 
caused  by  his  presence.  In  this 
intention.  Bolivar  was  actuated  by 
an  anxious  wish  to  preserve  the 
glories  attached  to  his  name  ;  and 
it  is  to  be  regretted,  that  he  should 
have  yielded  his  better  judgment 
to  the  desires  of  Mantilla  and  oth- 
er partisan  chieftains,  who  feared, 
with  his  departure  a  destruction  of 
their  own  undeserved  power. 

Mosquera  arrived  at  Bogota  on 
the  12th  of  June  and  was  receiv- 
ed by  all  parties  with  enthusiasm. 
On  the  next  day  he  swore  to 
the  Constitution  and  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  his  office.  His  first 
public  act  was  a  proclamation  or 
message,  explaining  his  views  and 
the  principles  which  governed  him 
during  the  short  period  of  his  ad- 
ministration. It  was  in  these 
words  :  — 
21 


*  Joaquim  Mosquera,  President 
of  the  Republic  of  Colombia  to 
his  fellow  countrymen  — 

Colombians  The  grand 

drama  which  we  represent,  is  not 
for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  all 
South  America  —  a  favorable  op- 
portunity is  now  presented  to  you 
of  setting  a  great  example  of  mor- 
ality and  virtue  in  the  regeneration 
of  Colombia  —  the  destruction  of 
anarchy,  and  the  foundation  of  a 
government  of  lavv's,  the  only  rem- 
edy against  popular  passions  and 
the  sole  hope  of  liberty. 

The  Constituent  Congress  has 
afforded  you  the  legal  means  of 
expressing  the  national  will, 
through  the  medium  of  deputies 
of  your  ov/n  free  choice. 

The  Liberator  of  Colombia  has 
retired  from  among  us,  to  calm 
the  jealous  friends  of  liberty, 
concealing  his  laurels,  and  remov- 
ing every  pretext  for  disorder. 

In  this  important  crisis,  the 
representatives  of  the  people  have 
entrusted  me  with  the  provisional 
administration  of  the  republic  con- 
formably to  the  Constitution  to 
wliich  I  have  this  day  sworn,  and 
this  is  the  point  of  contact  v^hich 
they  have  fixed  on,  by  which  we 
may  procure  a  general  concert  for 
the  salvation  of  Colombia  from 
the  dissolution  which  threatens 
her.  I  invoke  my  country  and 
liberty  to  obtain  your  hearing.  — 
Pure  love  of  my  country  is  the 
sacred  torch  which  guides  me, 
and  you  may  ask  all  from  a  man 
like  myself,  taken  suddt  n!y  from 
private  life  to  be  the  sacred  minis- 
ter of  your  will.  Express  it  then, 
as  your  honor,  your  glory,  and 
the  national   interest  command, 


238 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


and  the  good  of  our  country  will 
be  your  work. 

Citizens  of  all  opinions,  unite 
for  the  interest  of  our  country.  — 
The  true  friends  of  liberty  are  not 
those  who  seek  for  a  constant 
necessity  of  change  —  let  there 
be  no  new  revolutions;  and  let 
the  one  already  begun,  be  con- 
cluded. Colombians,  we  have 
yet  time  to  preserve  our  glory  and 
our  political  existence  —  let  us 
give  an  example  of  order  to  the 
new  states  of  our  continent,  and 
prove  to  our  detractors,  that  we 
are  not  immoral  men  and  not  un- 
worthy of  being  free. 

JoAQ,UIM  MoSQUERA. 
Bogota,  13th  June,  1830. 

The  Vice  President,  who  had 
conducted  the  affairs  of  the  gov- 
ernment until  the  arrival  of  Mos- 
quera,  had  made  no  change  of 
ministry,  but  had  retained  in  of- 
fice all  those  who  had  filled  the 
various  departments  of  state  under 
Bolivar ;  and  Mosquera  confirmed 
their  appointments.  They  were 
Vicente  Borrero,  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs  ;  Alexandro  Osoris,  of 
the  interior ;  Jose  Gracio  Mas- 
quez,  of  finances,  and  General 
Joaqulm  Paris,  of  war.  The  fol- 
lowing persons  composed  the 
Council  of  State.  The  archbish- 
op of  Bogota,  Don  Felix  Restre- 
po,  General  Jose  Maria  Ortega, 
Juan  Ferdinandez,  Soto  Mayor, 
Manuel  Benito  Revallo,  Modesto 
Lannea,  Vicente  Alvarez,  Jose 
Joachim  Almedo,  Vicente  Asuero, 
Diego  Fernando  Gomez,  General 
Jose  Fabrega,  and  Vicente  Borre- 
ro, all  sound  patriots,  and  eminent 
for  probity  and  talent. 


The  treasury  was  at  this  time 
completely  exhausted  and  the 
government  was  moreover  largely 
indebted  to  individuals,  who  had 
made  loans  to  enable  it  to  carry 
on  its  affairs.  By  the  Constitution 
the  executive  was  prohibhed 
from  making  loans,  decreeing 
contributions,  or  establishing  new 
imposts  ;  and  it  therefore  became 
at  once  a  serious  question,  how 
the  expenses  of  the  state  were  to 
be  provided  for.  The  utmost 
that  Mosquera  and  his  ministers 
could  do,  was  to  watch  vigilantly 
over  the  expenditures,  and  to  take 
the  most  vigorous  and  prudent 
measures  to  repress  and  prevent 
abuses  and  misapplications  of  the 
public  money,  which  had  existed 
to  an  alarming  extent,  and  had  in 
fact  occasioned  the  want  of  means 
by  which  the  new  government  was 
so  much  embarrassed.  The  Pres- 
ident himself  received  no  compen- 
sation for  his  services,  and  he 
exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to 
induce  all  the  other  officers  of 
state  and  public  functionaries,  to 
Hmit  their  demands  upon  the 
finances  of  the  republic  to  the 
smallest  possible  amount. 

In  the  meantime,  in  the  de- 
partment of  New  Grenada,  the 
Constitution  was  sworn  to  in  most 
of  the  provinces,  though  with 
some  opposition  ;  and  the  people 
of  those  districts  which  refused  to 
adopt  the  Constitution,  were  yet 
willing  to  support  the  government 
of  Mosquera.  On  his  part,  he 
gave  the  discontented  to  under- 
stand, that  unless  the  Constitution 
were  respected,  he  would  not  be 
President ;  and  sent  commission- 
ers to   the   various   districts  in 


SUCRE  ASSASSINATED. 


239 


which  opposition  was  manifested, 
to  induce  the  people  to  follow  the 
general  example ;  and  the  efforts 
of  his  emissaries  were  in  general 
crowned  with  success.  Mosque- 
ra  then  directed  his  attention  to 
the  departments  of  Venezuela,  and 
the  South,  where  the  dissent  of 
the  people  was  more  resolute  and 
more  general. 

The  province  of  Casanare,  of 
the  borders  of  Venezuela,  follow- 
ing the  impulse  of  the  revolution, 
had  declared  in  favor  of  Venezue- 
la, and  had  requested  to  be  re- 
ceived as  a  component  part  of 
that  state.  The  Congress  of  Ven- 
ezuela had  refused  to  admit  this 
province,  from  a  desire  to  pre- 
serve th(;  friendship  of  New 
Grenada,  and  had  offered  to  the 
government  of  New  Grenada  its 
good  offices,  to  bring  back  this 
refractory  province,  by  persuasive 
and  indulgent  measures,  manifest- 
ing also  its  hopes  that  its  adhesion 
would  be  easily  obtained,  after 
the  fears  caused  by  its  separation 
should  have  disappeared  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Constitution. 

In  the  month  of  June,  General 
Sucre  was  assassinated  in  the 
wood  of  Benuecos  near  Pasta,  on 
his  way  to  Quito  from  the  Con- 
stituent Congress,  of  which  he  was 
a  member.  Pasta  in  1822  had 
declared  for  old  Spain.  Sucre 
had  received  intimations  from  his 
friends  that  a  plan  for  his  assas- 
sination had  been  laid  in  Pasta, 
but  he  took  no  precautions  to 
prevent  it.  His  death  was  attrib- 
uted to  the  liberal  party,  but  it  is 
more  probable,  that  the  assassina- 
tion was  the  act  of  some  of  the 
people  of  Pasta,  among  whom  he 
had  many  enemies,  and  whom  he 


had  deeply  incensed  in  1822, 
when  he  took  the  place  by  assault 
and  delivered  it  up  to  pillage.  — 
Suspicion  also  fell  upon  Generals 
Ovando  and  Lopez,  between 
whom  and  Sucre,  hostility  had 
for  some  time  existed ;  but  there 
is  no  proof  of  their  guilt,  and  the 
act  still  remains  a  mystery. 

The  President  Mosquera  made 
great  and  strenuous  efforts  to  de- 
tect and  punish  the  assassins,  but 
without  success.  Symptoms  of 
revolt,  or  rather  of  disunion,  had 
for  some  time  past  exhibited  them- 
selves in  Venezuela  and  the  de- 
partment of  the  Equator.  In  the 
former.  General  Paez  held  the 
supreme  command,  and  General 
Flores  in  the  latter ;  and  the 
movements  of  these  officers  indi- 
cated great  reluctance  on  their 
part  to  the  adoption  of  a  Consti- 
tution and  mode  of  government, 
which  must  necessarily  have  the 
effect  of  diminishing  their  authori- 
ty and  restraining  their  influence. 
Flores  in  particular  appeared 
strongly  inclined  to  erect  his  de- 
partment into  an  independent 
state,  of  which  he  should  be  the 
head ;  and  it  was,  not  vi/ithout 
reason,  supposed  that  Paez  was 
well  disposed  to  imitate  his  exam- 
ple, should  his  undertaking  prove 
successful.  Mosquera  exerted 
himself  to  the  utmost  to  induce 
Flores  to  lay  aside  his  design,  and 
it  is  not  improbable  that  he  would 
have  succeeded,  if  his  administra- 
tion had  not  in  the  meantime 
been  so  suddenly  brought  to  its 
conclusion.  In  Venezuela,  the 
repugnance  of  the  people  to  the 
central  system  of  government  was 
extreme ;  and  this  feeling  was 
very   strongly  displayed  at  the 


240 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the 
department  in  July.  The  suspi- 
cions of  the  Venezuelans  were 
also  at  tliis  time,  strongly  excited 
against  Bolivar,  who  was  still  at 
Carthagena,  having  apparently 
abandoned  his  design  of  visiting 
Europe,  and  who  was  vehemently 
suspected  of  an  intention  to  as- 
sume once  more,  either  by  in- 
trigue or  violence,  \he  supreme 
authority.  Events  appeared  to 
justify  their  doubts  of  the  integri- 
ty and  intentions  of  the  Liberator. 
Karly  in  June  several  insurrec- 
tionary movements  had  been  made 
in  various  parts  of  Venezuela,  in 
all  of  which  Bolivar  was  proclaim- 
ed, and  the  intention  of  the  insur- 
gents to  restore  him  to  the  head 
of  affairs  was  openly  avowed  ; 
but  by  the  energetic  movements 
of  the  government,  these  attempts 
were  suppressed  without  difficul- 
ty. But  all  these  alarms  had  the 
effect  of  increasing  the  repug- 
nance of  the  people  to  the  consti- 
tutional or  central  system,  which 
had  originated  with  Bolivar,  and 
of  making  them  more  than  ever 
desirous  of  a  separate  indepen- 
dency. In  the  meantime  troubles 
began  to  break  out  in  the  centre 
of  the  republic  ;  in  Bogota,  move- 
ments in  favor  of  Bolivar  had 
taken  place,  and  the  military  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  pacific  and 
moderate  administration  of  Mos- 
quera.  But  little  confidence 
could  be  placed  in  any  of  the 
generals ;  and  the  government, 
without  money,  and  doubtful  of 
the  fidelity  of  its  military  agents, 
had  no  support  except  the  unarm- 
ed people,  who  desired  nothing 
more  than  peace,  tranquillity  and 
security.    In  August,  symptoms 


of  rebellion  broke  out  in  the  capi- 
tal itself,  which  were  with  difficul- 
ty suppressed  by  the  prudence 
and  firmness  of  Mosquera.  In 
August  an  alarming  conspiracy 
broke  out  in  the  battalions  of 
Boyaca  and  Callao,  under  the 
command  of  Colonels  Castelli  and 
Simenes,  who  approached  within 
two  leagues  of  the  capital,  where 
there  was  not  at  the  time  a  force 
sufficient  to  oppose  them.  Mos- 
quera was  extremely  anxious  to 
avoid  bloodshed,  and  for  that  rea- 
son earnestly  endeavored  to  pre- 
vail upon  the  insurgents  to  with- 
draw, and  resume  their  duties. 
Negotiations  were  entered  into 
tetween  Urdaneta  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  and  Castelli  as 
the  spokesman  of  the  rebels,  end 
continued  through  the  greater 
part  of  the  month  ;  the  demands 
of  the  conspirators  were  principal- 
ly directed  towards  a  change  of 
the  ministry  ;  but  it  was  obvious 
that  their  real  intentions  were  to 
subvert  the  government  and  usuip 
the  supreme  authority.  J\!osque- 
ra  and  his  counsellors  resorted  to 
every  m.easure  of  conciliation  that 
was  consistent  with  the  safety  and 
dignity  of  the  government,  but 
without  effect ;  and  at  last  it  be- 
came necessary  to  resort  to  arms. 
On  the  26th,  a  column  of  the  best 
troops  in  the  capital,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Garcia,  ad- 
vanced to  meet  the  rebels,  whom 
they  encountered  at  a  place  called 
the  Sanctuary,  three  leagues  from 
the  capital,  where  they  were 
strongly  entrenched.  The  attack 
was  unfortunate  in  its  results  ;  the 
government  troops  were  defeated 
with  great  slaughter;  and  the  in- 
surgents  flushed    with  success. 


BOLIVAR'S  DEATH. 


241 


marched  upon  the  city  with  the 
avowed  intention  of  taking  it  by 
storm.  The  number  of  troops 
remaining  in  the  capital  was  but 
GOO,  and  of  these  nearly  400  de- 
serted or  fled  at  the  approach  of 
the  enemy.  But  two  courses 
were  left  to  the  President ;  eith- 
er to  give  up  the  city  to  the  hor- 
rors of  an  assault,  or  to  submit  to 
necessity,  and  capitulate  at  once. 
He  determined  upon  the  latter, 
and  appointed  commissioners  to 
treat  with  the  insurgents  for  such 
terms  of  surrender  as  should  se- 
cure to  the  citizens  their  lives  and 
property.  On  the  28th,  the  con- 
querors entered  the  city  without 
committing  any  excess,  and 
Mosquera,  looking  upon  their  suc- 
cess as  the  triumph  of  a  military 
faction,  with  which  the  civil  pow- 
er of  the  state  was  unable  to  con- 
tend, assembled  the  council  on 
the  29th  and  declared  the  govern- 
ment dissolved. 

The  council  earnestly  advised 
and  entreated  the  President  to  re- 
tain his  authority,  and  continue  to 
fulfill  the  duties  of  his  exahed  sta- 
tion ;  and  Mosquera,  though  with 
great  reluctance,  consented  to  fol- 
low their  advice,  at  least,  until  it 
could  be  ascertained  what  were 
the  wishes  of  the  people.  Urda- 
neta,  whose  military  reputation 
gave  him  some  influence  with  the 
conquerors,  was  appointed  Secre- 
tary of  War  in  the  place  of  Gen- 
eral Paris,  (who  had  retired  on 
account  of  sickness)  and  was  in- 
structed to  ascertain  the  senti- 
ments of  the  soldiery,  and  their 
disposition  to  obey  the  existing 
government.  On  the  4th  of  Sep- 
tember Urdaneta  reported  that  the 
troops  had  represented  to  him 
21* 


their  unwillingness  to  submit  to 
the  authority  of  any  government 
but  that  of  Bolivar,  whose  recall 
to  the  head  of  the  republic,  they 
stated  to  be  the  wish  of  the  peo- 
ple as  well  as  of  themselves.  The 
report  of  Urdaneta  was  confirmed 
by  Simenes  the  leader  of  the  pre- 
vailing party,  and  Mosquera  was 
distinctly  given  to  understand,  that 
nothing  short  of  the  reassumption 
of  supreme  power  by  the  Libera- 
tor, would  satisfy  them.  On  the 
same  day,  Mosquera,  finding  that 
no  alternative  was  left  to  him,  re- 
signed ;  and  General  Urdaneta 
was  appointed  temporary  Presi- 
dent, until  the  arrival  of  Bolivar, 
whose  recall  to  power  was  decreed 
by  a  meeting  of  some  of  the  sol- 
diers and  citizens. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  Ur- 
daneta wrote  to  Bolivar,  inform- 
ing him  of  what  had  takenplace 
at  Bogota,  and  calling  upon  him 
in  the  strongest  terms  to  come 
and  take  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

Bolivar  consented  to  comply 
with  the  call  of  the  people,  and  to 
take  upon  himself  the  office  of  the 
government,  declaring,  however, 
that  it  should  be  only  until  new 
elections  could  take  place,  when 
he  should  return  once  more  to 
private  life,  from  which  nothing 
but  the  wishes  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens could  have  induced  him  to 
remove. 

On  the  17th  December,  1830, 
died  General  Simon  Bolivar,  the 
Liberator  of  South  America.  His 
character  and  services  we  shall 
hereafter  fully  examine ;  our 
present  purpose  is  with  the  clos- 
ing scene.    Had  Bolivar  adher- 


242  ANNUAL  REG 

ed  to  his  original  purpose  of  leav- 
ing Colombia,  his  life  might  have 
been  spared  —  his  fame  certainly 
—  as  it  was,  he  died  th  chief  of 
11  party,  in  arms  against  the  consti- 
tutional government  of  his  country. 
Great  allowance  must  be  made 
on  account  of  the  discordant  ma- 
terials that  he  was  obliged  to  bring 
into  the  government,  and  the  char- 
acter' of  the  people  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded.  Unused  to  pop- 
ular forms,  or  to  the  peaceful  ad- 
ministration of  equal  laws,  they 
themselves  formed  a  great  ob- 
stacle to  the  establishment  of  re- 
publican institutions  to  be  con- 
trolled only  by  public  opinion. 
Still,  with  all  these  allowances, 
there  is  much  which  needs  ex- 
planation in  his  political  career, 
and  the  mystery  which  hangs 
over  the  latter  part  of  his  life, 
compels  history  to  pause,  before 
definitively  pronouncing  upon  his 
character. 

His  death  occurred  at  Cartha- 
gena  at  his  country  seat,  where 
he  had  resided  since  his  resigna- 
tion of  the  supreme  command. 
Every  respect  was  paid  to  his 


5TER,  1829  — 30 

memory,  and  funeral  processions 
were  had  in  almost  every  town  in 
the  republic.  His  last  proclama- 
tion to  his  countrymen  evinced  the 
most  noble  sentiments  of  patriot- 
ism, and  it  is  deeply  to  be  lament- 
ed that  with  the  expulsion  of 
Spanish  power,  and  the  formation 
of  a  free  constitution.  Bolivar,  like 
our  own  Washington,  had  not  at 
once  retired  to  the  shades  of  pri- 
vate life. 

His  will  exhibits,  what  none 
ever  doubted,  his  total  disregard 
of  fortune.  Men  like  Bolivar  are 
seldom  governed  by  pecuniary  mo- 
tives, and  it  would  have  been  far 
better  for  his  country,  if  his  disin- 
terestedness had  been  equally  ex- 
hibited, in  his  disregard  of  the 
temptations  of  power. 

That  we  may  form  some  idea  of 
the  state  of  parties  of  Colombia, 
we  subjoin  a  statistical  account  of 
the  population  of  the  different 
Provinces  and  Departments  of 
Colombia  —  considering  as  liber- 
als, all  who  opposed  themselves  to 
the  usurpation  of  Urdaneta,  after 
the  overthrow  of  the  administra- 
tion of  Mosquera. 


POPULATION. 


243 


Departments. 


Orinoco. 


Venezuela. 


r 


Sulia. 


Apure. 


Provinces. 
Cumana. 
Guayana. 
Barcelona. 
Margarita. 
Caraccas. 
Carabobo. 
Maracaibo. 
Coro. 
Merida. 
Truxillo. 
Varinas. 
Apure. 

These  four  Departments  formerly  com 
prised  ancient  Venezuela,  and  now  com 
prise  the  State  of  Venezuela. 

f  Pichincha. 
Equator.  ■{  Imbubabura. 

Chimborazo. 
Guayaquil. 
Manabi. 
Cuenca.  78,000 
Asuai.  <     Loja.  48,000 

Jaen.  49,000 
These  three  Departments  are  those  of 
the  South,  and  are  now  constituted  as 
State  undeiHhe  name  of  the  Equator. 


Population.    Liberals.  Under 


Guayaquil. 


Cauca,  since 
ded  to 
Equator. 


the^ 


r 

Cundinamarca.  ^ 

I 


Boyaca. 


Ystmo. 


{ 


Magdalena.  ^ 


Popayan. 
Buenaventura. 
Pasto. 
Choco. 


Bogota. 

Antioquia. 

Mariquita. 

Neiva. 

Tunja. 

Socarro. 

Pamplona. 

Ciisanare. 

Panama. 

Veragua. 

Cartagena. 

Santa  Marta. 

Mompor, 

Rio. 


70,000^ 
45,000  ! 
45,000  ( 
15,000  J 

175,000 

Urdaneta 

350,000 

350,000 

48  700^ 
30,000  I 
50,000  [ 
33  400 

162,100 

80,000 

80,000 

767,1 

255,000 

90,000 

175,000 

520,000 

156,000 
15,000 
30,000 

721,000 

22,000 

721,000 
172,000^ 
104,000  ' 
45,000  ( 
50,000  J 
200,000 1 

159,000  y 

75,000  J 

50,000  ) 
40,000  5 
100,000-1 
62,000  ! 
70,000  f 
7,000  J 

12,000 

371,000 
425,000 

239,300 

1,507,100 

1,057,300 

Under 
Espinar 


90,000 


90,000 


It  appears  from  the  foregoing,  that  the  population  under  the  sway  of 
Urdaneta,  consisted  of  1,057,300  souls. 

The  population  of  the  provinces  which  had  separated  fronti  the  cen- 
tral government,  amounted  to  1,507,100  souls.  In  addition  is  the 
population  of  the  Isthmus  under  the  administration  of  Espinar,  which 
had  declared  itself  in  favor  of  Bolivar,  and  was  equally  opposed  to 
Urdaneta  and  the  liberal  states,  amounting  to  90,000. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


BUENOS  AYRES. 


Condition  of  Country. —  Civil  War.  —  Retreat  of  Rosas.  —  New 
Government. — Pacification.  —  Viamout  elected  Governor.  — 
Proceedings  concerning  Dorrego's  Execution.  —  Rosas  elected 
Governor.  —  Neiv  Disturbances.  —  Quiroga  defeated.  —  Inva- 
sion of  Cuyo.  — Meeting  of  Legislature.  —  Condition  of  Coun- 
try. —  Monte  Video. 


The  history  of  the  Argentine 
Republics  was  brought  down  in  a 
previous  volume  of  this  Register, 
to  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
agreed  upon  on  ihe24th  of  June, 
in  1829,  between  the  province  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  those  of  the  in- 
terior :  General  Lavalle  being 
then  self-constituted  Provincial 
Governor  of  the  former,  and  com- 
mander of  its  forces.  The  task 
of  pacifying  the  interior  was  as- 
signed to  General  Rosas.  A  brief 
narration  of  the  events  which  sub- 
sequently happened,  during  the 
period  of  time  comprehended  in 
the  present  volume,  is  necessary 
to  the  execution  of  its  plan.  A 
more  uninteresting  detail,  howev- 
er, can  scarcely  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  any  nation,  civilized  or 
savage.  The  only  historical  les- 
son taught  by  it  is,  that  a  country 
cannot  be  tranquil,  whose  desti- 
nies are  confided  to  ambitious 
military  chiefs  ;  and  the  only  re- 
sult of  these  events  has  been,  that 


Buenos  Ayres  and  the  formerly 
confederated  provinces  are  in  but 
a  very  little  better  condition  now, 
as  to  the  sound  action  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  laws,  their  social  and 
moral  improvement,  and  the  reg- 
ular operations  of  industry,  than 
they  were  at  the  time  to  which  we 
last  brought  up  the  record.  Gen- 
eral history  will  find  little  or  no 
room  for  the  particulars. 

We  must  refer  back  a  little  in 
point  of  time,  to  preserve  the 
chain  of  the  narration.  General 
Paz  was  at  the  head  of  the  Uni- 
tarian party,  opposed  to  the  fed- 
eralists of  Cordova  and  Santa  Fe, 
and  had  taken  possession  of  the 
former  city,  from  which  Bustos 
retired  on  his  approach,  with 
about  800  men.  Paz  pursued 
him  for  some  distance  and  return- 
ed. Bustos  rallied  his  forces, 
and  having  joined  General  Quiro- 
ga,  made  his  appearance  again, 
with  a  force  of  5000 men.  Paz  did 
not  wait  for  a  siege,  but  went  out 


NEW  GOVERNMENT. 


245 


to  meet  the  enemy,  and  some  se- 
vere fighting  ensued,  on  the  22d 
and  23d  of  June,  which  ended  in 
the  total  rout  of  the  federalists ; 
fifteen  hundred  of  them  being 
either  killed  or  captured. 

The  news  of  this  victory  pro- 
duced  great  sensation  in  the  city 
of  Buenos  Ayres.  By  the  Con- 
vention of  the  24th  of  June,  rep- 
resentatives for  the  Provincial 
Congress  were  to  be  elected  with 
all  convenient  speed,  and  that 
body  was  to  organize  a  perma- 
ment  Government;  on  the  forma- 
tion of  which,  Lavalle  and  Rosas 
were  to  lay  down  their  temporary 
authority.  The  hopes  and  pre- 
tensions of  the  Unitarians  increas- 
ed ;  and  at  the  election  held  on 
the  26th  July,  Lavalle,  by  his  in- 
fluence, and  the  bayonets  he  com- 
manded, carried  everything  his 
own  way.  Rosas  saw,  in  the  re- 
sults of  the  election,  no  security 
for  the  fulfilment  of  the  terms  on 
which  he  had  insisted  on  the  24th 
June,  and  withdrew  with  his 
troops  to  the  distance  of  twenty 
miles  from  the  city.  His  attitude 
was  too  formidable  not  to  be  re- 
spected; and  new  negotiations 
were  commenced.  To  refer  to 
the  events  in  the  order  of  their 
dates,  on  the  3d  of  August  La- 
valle issued  a  proclamation,  stat- 
ing that  Government  was  deter- 
mined to  maintain  the  preserva- 
tion of  peace,  and  assuring  the 
citizens  that  a  renewal  of  civil 
war  was  not  to  be  dreaded.  The 
interior  provinces,  were,  however, 
at  that  moment  in  a  very  unset- 
tled state.  On  the  7th  he  an- 
nounced the  formation  of  an  en- 
tirely new  Cabinet.  Manuel  L 
Garcia  was  appointed  Secretary 


of  the  Treasury;  Thomas  Guido, 
Secretary  of  State  and  of  Foreign 
Relations; Manuel Escalada,  Sec- 
retary of  War  and  Marine  (which 
office  had  been  held  by  Rosas, 
under  Dorrego)  and  I.  A.  Gelli, 
Minister  of  Police.  Another 
proclamation  promising  security 
and  tranquillity  followed.  On  the 
8th  Rosas  dismissed  the  several 
bodies  of  Indians  who  had  acted 
under  him,  to  their  respective 
territories.  ^ 

The  language  of  the  new  min- 
isters wasof  an  encouraging  char- 
acter, though  the  Secretary  of 
State  candidly  declared  that,  *in 
a  field  covered  with  ruins,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  avoid  stumb- 
ling.' 

By  a  new  convention  between 
Lavalle  and  Rosas,  on  the  24th, 
the  elections  of  July  26th  were 
declared  void ;  and  by  an  ar- 
rangement unintelligible  to  citi- 
zens who  live  under  a  pure  de-  ' 
mocracy,  General  Juna  Jose 
Viamout,  an  ancient  officer  of  the 
corps  of  Patricios,  and  who  had 
not  meddled  in  these  civil  feuds, 
was  placed  provisionally  at 
head  of  the  Government  of  the 
Province  ;  in  war  to  be  assisted 
by  a  council  of  twentyfour,  a 
senado  consultativo,  selected  from 
the  most  respectable  owners  of 
real  estate,  merchants  and  eccle- 
siastics. 

Solemn  Te  Deim  was  cele- 
brated at  the  Cathedral,  for  the 
termination  of  civil  war.  Con- 
gratulations on  the  return  of  peace 
were  received  from  every  quar- 
ter. The  French  Consul  return- 
ed from  Montevideo  and  resumed 
his  functions.  Lavalle  was  ap- 
pointed by   the  new  Governor 


246 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


commander-in-chief  of  the  cav- 
alry troops  of  the  Hne,  and  accept- 
ed the  office.  He  shortly  after- 
wards retired  to  Montevideo.  Or- 
ders were  issued  prohibiting  the 
use  of  fire-arms  by  citizens  not  in 
the  municipal  service.  The  pris- 
oners who  had  been  sent  to  Ba- 
lina  Blanca  in  the  preceding 
March  were  set  at  liberty,  and 
returned  to  the  capital.  So  that 
in  Buenos  Ayres  Proper  and  in 
Santa  Fe,  to  which  Provinces 
alone  the  new  arrangement  rela- 
ted, quiet  was  considered  as  being 
fairly  established. 

The  deficit  in  the  revenue  of 
1828  was  ascertained  •  to  have 
been  more  than  thirteen  millions, 
while  the  amount  collected  during 
the  same  period  was  less  than 
four.  The  governor  was  induct- 
ed into  office  on  the  28th  August. 
The  installation  of  the  senado 
consultative  took  place  on  the 
1 6th  of  September.  Seventeen 
of  the  twenty  four  members  chosen 
were  considered  Federalists.  It 
was  hoped  that  Viamout,  being  a 
moderate  man,  would  mediate  be- 
tween the  parties  ;  and  in  his  in- 
augural proclamation,  he  declared 
his  intention  to  bury  past  political 
feuds  in  oblivion,  and  to  punish 
with  all  the  severity  of  the  laws, 
those  who  should  violate  them,  or 
raise  the  cry  of  sedition. 

The  ministers  before  mention- 
ed, and  whom  he  retained,  were 
also  understood  to  be  Federalists, 
but  moderate  men  in  their  views 
and  feelings. 

Some  clouds  hung  over  the 
initiation  of  the  new  Government 
into  its  functions.  Several  of  the 
members  of  the  consultative  Sen- 
ate did  not  attend,  and  others, 


under  various  pretexts  resigned 
their  places.  This  circumstance, 
together  with  another  equally  sus- 
picious, which  was,  that  the  sit- 
tings were  strictly  private,  dimin- 
ished the  public  confidence  in  the 
stability  of  the  new  Government. 
The  Council,  however,  elected  a 
President  and  Vice  President, 
and  adopted  measures  in  relation 
to  the  revenue,  and  the  protection 
of  the  frontiers  against  the  Indians. 
Their  legislation  had  some  effect 
in  both  instances,  for  the  moment; 
as  the  value  of  ounces  fell  in  the 
stock  market  from  $120  to  $92  ; 
and  apprehensions  from  the  in- 
roads of  the  Indians  were  quiet- 
ed by  the  organization  of  what 
was  deemed  a  sufficient  force, 
under  General  Paduco.  The 
Secretary  of  State,  wisely,  at  this 
period,  besought  the  new  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese  of  Santa  Fe,  to 
relieve  the  country  from  the  in- 
convenience of  the  innumerable 
holidays,  with  which  ecclesiastical 
shrewdness  gratified  constitutional 
laziness  in  Catholic  South  Ameri- 
ca, and  makes  idleness  a  work  of 
holiness.  We  do  not  learn  that 
the  Bishop  complied  even  nomi- 
nally, with  the  request ;  and  the 
evil  still  exists,  and  will  exist,  un- 
til the  removal  of  the  final  cause. 

An  interesting  communication 
was  received  about  this  time  from 
the  widow  of  the  murdered  Dor- 
rego.  The  honor  of  representa- 
tives at  a  former  period,  had  voted 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
him  for  the  services  he  had  ren- 
dered his  country  ;  and  the  exist- 
ing Government  honestly  or  from 
policy,  being  desirous  of  not  par- 
ticipating in  any  of  the  stain  of 
his  execution,  decreed  the  pay- 


ROSAS  ELECTED  GOVERNOR. 


247 


ment  of  stock  to  that  amount,  to 
his  widow.  She  informed  them 
that  in  the  few  hours  between  the 
intimation  of  his  sentence  and  its 
being  carried  into  effect,  he  had 
thought  of  his  country  and  of  the 
gallant  army  just  returned  from 
the  Brazilian  campaign  ;  and  had 
enjoined  it  upon  her  to  put  one 
third  of  the  amount  voted  to  him, 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Government. 
The  offer^  however,  was  declin- 
ed. 

Acting  further  on  this  generous 
or  politic  principle,  the  Govern- 
ment passed  a  decree  on  the  29th 
October,  directing  the  remains  of 
Dorrego  to  be  conveyed  from  the 
church  of  Navarro,  where  they 
had  been  deposited,  to  the  ceme- 
tery north  of  the  city  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  where  a  monument  was 
ordered  to  be  erected  to  his 
memory.  The  removal  and  in- 
terment took  place  in  December 
following  with  great  pomp  and 
ceremony,  and  nothing  seemed 
wanting  to  the  only  atonement 
which  could  then  be  made,  but 
the  immolation  of  Lavalle  to  the 
manes. 

A  treaty  of  friendship  and  alli- 
ance, between  the  Provinces  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Santa  Fe  was 
ratified  in  October.  Rosas  and 
Lopez,  the  Governor  of  Santa  Fe, 
were  sworn  friends.  The  treaty 
bound  them  to  mutual  protection 
against  their  neighbors,  provided 
for  the  reimbursement  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  army  under  Rosas 
and  authorized  the  Government 
of  Buenos  Ayres  to  transact  all 
foreign  affairs  with  European  and 
American  States.  The  Govern- 
ment of  Santa  Fe  promised  to 
procure  the  consent  of  the  two 


Provinces  of  Entre-rios  and  Cor- 
rientes,  not  only  to  obtain  equal 
authorization  in  favor  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Buenos  Ayres,  but 
also  that  they  might  be  allied  to- 
gether by  express  compacts,  and 
form  one  cause  with  the  Province 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  conforming 
themselves  to  its  political  and 
constitutional  principles.  The 
appearance  of  affairs  thus  contin- 
ued to  grow  better.  Justice  ob- 
tained some  of  its  legitimate  vic- 
tims, who  had  been  guilty  of  as- 
sassinations. The  foreign  minis- 
ters resident  in  the  city  partook 
in  festivities  with  those  of  the 
Government.  A  decree,  howev- 
er, prohibiting,  under  severe  pen- 
alties, the  publication  of  any  re- 
marks concerning  the  conventions 
of  June  24th  and  August  24th, 
indicated  a  sense  of  insecurity. 

On  the  Gth  of  December,  Ro- 
sas was  elected  Governor  and 
Captain  General  of  the  province 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  receiving  thir- 
tytwo  votes  ;  there  being  only  one 
against  him.  A  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel, named  Smith,  had  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  persuade 
the  officers  and  men  of  his  regi- 
ment to  revolt,  and  join  Paz  in 
Cordova.  The  alarm  created  by 
the  rumor  of  this  transaction 
seems  to  have  been  the  pretext 
for  investing  the  new  Governor 
with  extraordinary  powers.  He 
was  installed  on  the  8th  of  De- 
cember, and  issued  proclamations 
to  the  citizens,  to  the  army  and 
navy,  and  to  the  militia.  He  re^ 
tained  Guido  and  Garcia  in  their 
respective  appointments,  and  ap- 
pointed L  R.  Balcarce  minister 
of  war.     He  issued  circulars  to 


248 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  18-29  —  30. 


the  Governors  of  all  the  provin- 
ces, urging  the  importance  of 
reunion,  by  every  consideration  of 
wisdom  and  policy.  He  alluded 
among  other  things  to '  the  severe 
neutrality  of  the  first  republic  of 
this  continent  ;  and  stated  that  a 
war  of  twenty  years  with  Spain 
had  not  been  sufficient  to  secure 
the  political  independence  of  the 
Argentine  stages ;  nor  could  it  be 
secured  without  a  strict  federation. 
Rosas  was  considered  a  bigot,  and 
the  House  of  Representatives 
seemed  disposed  to  favor  his  views 
by  resolution  against  the  extent 
to  whicli  freedom  of  religious  opin- 
ion and  worship  had  been  previ- 
ously tolerated  in  Buenos  Ayres. 
The  Governor  was  also  solicited  to 
open  a  correspondence  with  the 
Pope.  The  Press  was  put  under 
most  rigid  restraints ;  and  the  ac- 
counts which  the  journals  furnish 
of  passing  events,  are  of  course 
raepgre  and  delusive. 

The  majority  of  the  people  of 
Cordova,  from  inclination  or  fear, 
submitted  to  Paz,  the  usurping 
Governor,  who  v/ns  at  this  time  at 
the  head  of  4000  men,  most  of 
whom  belonged  to  the  militia.  — 
The  province  was  in  a  wretched 
condition,  however,  disturbed  by 
the  insurgent  peasantry,  with 
whom  frequent  skirmishes  took 
place.  A  convention  between 
this  province  and  that  of  Buenos 
Ayres  was  published  in  January. 
A  mutual  co-operation  against 
foreign  invasion  was  agreed  upon  ; 
and  an  alliance  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, against  the  Indians,  was 
entered  into.  The  government  of 
Buenos  Ayres  was  also  authoriz- 
ed, as  it  had  been  at  the  conven- 
tion with  Santa  Fc,  to  transact 


the  business  of  the  province  in  its 
foreign  relations.  The  two  gov- 
ernments invited  those  of  the  oth- 
er provinces  to  convoke  assem- 
blies for  the  organization  of  the 
nation,  as  soon  as  internal  troubles 
should  have  been  quieted.  But 
this  consummation  was  far  from 
being  at  hand.  Quiroga  had  ta- 
ken the  field  against  Paz ;  and 
the  latter  availed  himself,  perfidi- 
ously, as  is  alleged,  of  an  improp- 
er opportunity,  to  cut  up  the  for- 
ces of  his  antagonist.  Commis- 
sioners from  Buenos  Ayres, 
despatched  to  effect  a  pacification 
of  the  disturbances,  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  convention  above 
referred  to,  were  in  Quiroga's 
camp,  on  the  plains  of  Laguna 
Larga.  He  expected  of  course 
no  immediate  assault.  His  force 
consisted  of  2300  men.  On  the 
25th  of  February  Paz  came  upon 
him  by  surprise,  with  3200,  and, 
after  six  hours'  engagement,  1000 
men  were  killed  or  missing,  and 
all  the  baggage,  infantry,  and  ar- 
tillery of  Quiroga,  were  captured. 
His  cavalry  was  dispersed,  and  he 
betook  himself  to  Buenos  Ayres, 
where  he  was  well  received  by 
the  government  party.  Indigna- 
tion was  generally  felt  at  the  con- 
duct of  Paz,  and  a  rupture  with 
Cordova  was  anticipated. 

The  Unitarians  however  ex- 
ulted in  the  success  of  Paz.  I 
has  been  mentioned  that  Lavalle 
retired  to  Montevideo.  He  sent 
in  his  resi2;nation  as  commander 
in  chief  of  the  cavalry,  m  no  very 
respectful  terms.  Most  of  his 
party,  on  the  establishment  of 
Rosas  in  the  government,  left  the 
city  in  disgust.  They  complain- 
ed loudly  of  the  weakness  of  the 


INVASION  OF  CUYO. 


admiiiistration.  Instead  of  order- 
ing the  election  of  a  new  legisla- 
ture, the  government  had  reinsta- 
ted the  old  one,  whose  acts  had 
been  specially  displeasing  to  the 
Unitarians.  The  funeral  honors 
decreed  to  Dorrego,  the  re-estab- 
Jishment  of  intercourse  with  the 
Pope,  and  tlie  legislative  suppres- 
sion of  all  writings  printed  during 
Lavalle's  continuance  in  power, 
criticising  the  acts  of  the  now 
dominant  party,  w^ere  all  equally 
Oitensive  to  that  which  had  been 
ejected  from  power.  Many  of 
them,  in  consequence, joined  Paz 
in  Cordova. 

Some  of  their  complaints  seem 
not  to  have  been  unfounded.  - — 
Rosas  certainly  carried  it  with  a 
high  hand,  in  relation  to  them. — 
By  a  decree,  dated  March  13th,  it 
was  declared  that  '  Every  person 
who  might  be  publicly  considered 
as  author,  abetter  or  accomplice  of 
the  affair  of  December  1st,  1828, 
(the  date  of  Lavalle's  usurpation) 
or  any  of  the  outrages  committed 
against  the  laws  by  the  intrusive 
government,  and  who  had  not 
given  and  should  not  thencefor- 
ward give  unequivocal  proof  that 
they  viewed  such  proceedings 
with  abomination,  should  be  pun- 
ished as  guilty  of  rebellion.'  — 
And  the  decree  went  on  to  enact, 
that  '  All  persons  who  either  by 
word  or  writing,  or  in  any  other 
manner,  should  manifest  them- 
selves in  favor  of  the  said  meeting 
of  December  IGth,  or  any  of  the 
aforesaid  outrages,  should  be 
equally  punished.'  Despotism 
cannot  go  farther  than  to  attempt 
a  suppression  of  the  privilege  of 
speech ;  and  despotism  itself  cax- 
not  effect  it. 

22 


In  reply  to  a  communication 
from  Paz,  giving  an  account  of 
his  defeating  Quiroga,  in  which 
the  blame  was  of  course  laid  on 
the  latter,  an  answer  was  des- 
patched on  the  16th  March  by 
the  Buenos  Ayrean  government. 
The  efforts  it  had  made  to  pre- 
vent the  further  effusion  of  blood, 
and  the  expectations  it  had  cher- 
ished from  the  mission  of  the 
commissioners,  charged  to  medi- 
ate between  all  parties,  were  set 
forth  ;  and  the  hope  was  express- 
ed that  the  affair  of  the  25th 
February  might  be  the  last,  in 
which  Argentine  blood  would  be 
shed  by  fraternal  hands. 

The  hopes  of  the  Unitarians 
generally  became  stronger.  Sev- 
eral of  the  interior  provinces  were 
understood  to  be  in  their  favor.  — 
Santa  Fe,  however,  remained 
faithful  to  the  convention  ;  and 
Corrientes,  Entre  Rios  and  oth- 
ers, were  relied  upon  by  the  party 
in  power.  Paz  followed  up  his 
victory,  by  despatching  a  part  of 
his  forces  against  the  province  of 
Cuyo.  Their  commander,  Cas- 
tillo, occupied  the  fortress  of  San 
Luis  without  difficulty,  making  its 
governor  and  garrison  prisoners. 
He  was  moving  on  Mendoza, 
when  he  was  met  by  a  deputation 
of  the  government  of  the  province. 
A  treaty  of  peace  was  set  on  foo:, 
but  its  ratification  was  interrupted. 
The  Governor  retreated  with 
the  forces  he  had  at  command, 
amounting  to  700  men.  A  new 
governor  was  named  ;  but  a  large 
number  of  the  inhabitants  not  feel- 
ing safe  in  any  event,  attempted 
to  escape  into  Chili.  Many  were 
interrupted  at  the  pnsscs  of  the 


350 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Cordilleras,  by  a  detachment  of 
troops,  and  made  prisoners. 

The  Chamber  of  Representa- 
tives met  pursuant  to  adjournment 
in  Buenos  Ayres,  on  the  3d  of 
May.  The  governor  informed 
them,  that,  during  their  brief  re- 
cess, the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country  had  remained  in  statu 
quo ;  that  though  the  government 
had  vainly  used  every  effort  to 
prevent  the  effusion  of  blood  in 
Cordova  and  Cuyo,  its  zeal  was 
not  diminished  for  the  attainment 
of  peace,  nor  would  its  exertions 
be  relaxed.  As  to  the  revenue,  it 
was  frankly  admitted,  that  very 
great  sacrifices  must  be  made  to 
put  the  credit  of  the  country  on 
any  tolerable  footing.  The  de- 
preciation of  the  despised  curren- 
cy paralyzed  industry,  and  men- 
aced the  community  at  large  whh 
hopeless  distress  and  embarrass- 
ment. 

The  Chambers  passed  a  law 
prohibiting  the  exportation  of  coin 
and  bullion,  which  had  a  partial 
effect  in  lowering  the  difference 
of  exchange.  The  actual  value  of 
the  currency  of  the  country,  at 
this  time,  may  be  estimated  from 
the  fact,  that  flour  of  inferior  qual- 
ity was  sold  at  ^^70  the  barrel.  — 
Higher  duties  were  laid  on  sever- 
al of  the  most  important  articles  of 
importation.  Trade,  notwithstand- 
ing, continued  in  a  most  languish- 
ing condition,  and  very  few  Amer- 
ican vessels  visited  the  port.  The 
Governor  made  a  tour  in  the  inte- 
rior, for  the  purpose  of  inspecting 
the  state  of  the  country.  Depu- 
ties were  appointed  by  the  provin- 
ces of  Buenos  Ayres,  Entre  Rios, 


Corrientes  and  Santa  Fe,  to  set- 
tle definite  terms  of  peace  and 
alliance  between  them,  and  strong 
hopes  were  entertained  of  their 
successful  negotiation.  New 
troubles  and  rumors  of  insurrec- 
tions, however,  arose,  which  indu- 
ced the  legislature  on  the  21st  of 
July,  again  to  invest  the  Governor 
with  extraordinary  powers,  to  con- 
tinue during  the  existence  of  the 
crisis.  Corbolan,  the  ex-govern- 
or of  Mendoza,  made  an  attempt 
to  retake  that  city,  and  his  force 
was  entirely  cut  up  by  the  In- 
dians. He  was  slain,  with  nearly 
all  his  principal  officers.  But  we 
have  reached  the  limits  assigned 
to  the  present  barren  record." — 
Since  the  memorable  July  of  this 
year,  the  attention  of  the  world 
has  been  occupied  with  far  more 
important  events  than  the  com- 
paratively petty  affairs  of  the  Ar- 
gentine provinces.  We  cannot 
but  hope,  however,  that  the  influ- 
ence of  these  events  may  be  sal- 
utary as  regards  them  ;  and  that 
in  the  general  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  freedom,  they  may  be- 
come enlightened  enough,  not 
only  to  understand  but  to  act  upon 
the  principles,  that  in  union  alone 
there  is  strength,  and  that  civil 
liberty  cannot  be  enjoyed  under 
the  sway  of  priests  and  generals. 

In  the  state  of  Monte  Video, 
during  the  period  we  have  passed 
over.  Rondeau  the  Governor,  was 
deposed  by  a  movement  excited 
by  his  improper  trafficking  with 
ambitious  men.  A  new  constitu- 
tion was  adopted,  which  was  guar- 
antied by  Buenos  Ayres  and 
Brazil,  and  was  sworn  to  in  July. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


FRANCE. 


Vicissitudes  in  France.  —PoUgnac  Ministry.  —  Public  Opinion. 
—  La  Fayette  in  Lyons.  —  Breton  Association.  —  Parisian 
Cafes.  —  Pamphlets.  —  Journals.  —  Journalism.  —  Comite  Di- 
recteur.  — Jesuits.  —  State  of  the  Question.  —  Meeting  of  the 
Chambers.  —  Character  of  Parties. 


It  has  been  the  destiny  of 
France,  during  the  last  half  cen- 
tury, to  fix  the  attention  of  the 
world  by  alternate  scenes  of  de- 
gradation and  glory  ;  by  astonish- 
ins;  vicissitudes  of  political  condi- 
tion ;  by  the  connmission  of  the 
darkest  public  crimes,  and  by  the 
exhibition  of  magnanimity  and  of 
enthusiasm  in  the  pursuit  of  great 
national  objects,  seldom  surpass- 
ed ;  and  as  the  theatre  in  short, 
of  those  events,  achievements,  sac- 
rifices, and  revolutions  in  human 
affairs,  whereon  history  delights 
to  dwell.  The  incidents  of  1830 
have  added  another  chapter  of 
deep  and  ubsorbing  interest  to  her 
already  wonderful  annals.  Since 
the  second  Restoration,  a  period 
of  comparatively  long  tranquillity, 
both  internal  and  external,  had 
elapsed,  when  the  Revolution  of 
the  Three  Days,  and  the  subordi- 
nate events  which  preceded  or 
accompanied  it,  came  to  interrupt 


the  protracted  calm  and  monotony 
of  affairs,  in  the  bosom  of  that 
people,  so  habituated  to  the  con- 
templation of  the  most  exciting 
changes,  the  most  extreme  and 
violent  vibrations,  in  the  combi- 
nations of  its  political  condition. 
Tranquil  the  period  may  well  be 
called,  for  France,  which  at  home 
saw  nothing  more  important  than 
the  assassination  of  a  prince  of  the 
blood,  the  descent  of  the  crown 
in  the  regular  order  of  hereditary 
succession,  an  occasional  upris- 
ing and  consequent  fusillade  of 
the  uneasy  spirits  among  the  peo- 
ple, the  suppression  or  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  liberty  of  the  Press, 
the  disbanding  of  the  National 
Guards,  a  contested  election,  the 
funeral  of  a  Manuel  or  a  Foy, 
stormy  discussions  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  or  capricious 
shiftings  of  the  ministerial  portfolios 
from  one  to  another  of  the  unsta- 
ble tenants  of  office  :  and  which 


252  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


abroad  saw  nothing  more  impor- 
tant than  the  unopposed  invasion 
of  Spain,  or  the  bloodless  occu- 
])ation  of  the  Morea.  In  our  own 
ibrtunate,  peaceful,  and  prosper- 
ous land,  where  the  stability  and 
quiet  of  a  happy  form  of  govern- 
ment and  of  wise  laws  prevent  the 
frequent  occurrence  of  those  pro- 
foundly interesting  events,  which 
electrify  mankind,  such  things 
could  not  pass  without  filling  a 
space,  by  no  means  insignificant, 
in  our  annals.  But  in  France  it 
is  otherwise  :  for  what  is  a  change 
of  ministry,  compared  with  a 
change  of  dynasty,  the  abolition 
of  a  law  to  the  abolition  of  a  con- 
stitution, the  dispersion  of  a  hand- 
ful of  turbulent  students  to  the 
defeat  of  a  noble  army,  the  de- 
mise of  a  king  to  his  dethrone- 
ment, the  doating  ineptitude  of  a 
Louis  or  a  Charles  to  the  sublime 
aspirations  and  splendid  errors 
of  Napoleon?  And  the  inglo- 
rious chase  of  the  unresisting  Con- 
stitutionalists of^Spain  —  how  little 
worth  it  could  be  To  men,  who  had 
participated  in  the  magnificent 
triumphs  of  Marengo  and  Jena,  or 
the  bloody  reverses  of  Leipsic 
ftnd  Waterloo !  But  animation 
and  vicissitude  and  preparation 
and  anticipation  have  once  more 
regained  their  sway  over  the 
course  of  pvblic  affairs  in  France, 
and  by  consequence  in  the  rest  of 
Europe ;  and  in  resuming  our 
narrative,  we  enter  apon  the  rec- 
ord of  events,  which  do  not  yield 
in  importance  or  interest,  to  those 
which  signalized  the  days  of  the 
Republic  or  the  Empire. 

We  closed  the  history  of  France 
for  1829  with  an  account  of  the 
formation  of  that  ministry,  which. 


in  the  brief  period  of  eleven 
months  from  its  appointment,  was 
destined  to  overthrow  the  throne 
they  were  designed  to  strengthen 
and  confirm.  M.  de  Polignac  had 
been  transferred  from  the  court 
of  St  James  to  the  hotel  of  For- 
eign Affairs  and  invested  with  the 
responsible  control  of  the  govern- 
ment, first,  as  minister  merely,  and 
afterwards  as  President  of  the 
Council,  in  order  to  gain  a  name 
synonymous  with  incapacity  as  a 
statesman,  and  fatuity  as  a  man. 
His  associates  were  either,  like 
MM.  de  Bourmont  and  La  Bour- 
donnaye,  the  most  supremely 
odious  individuals  in  France,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  great  body  of 
the  Nation;  or  like  MM.  Cour- 
voisier,  Chabrol,  and  Montbel, 
and  M.  Guernon  deRanville,  who 
soon  took  the  place  of  La  Bour- 
donnaye,  were  chiefly  distin- 
guished for  their  known  or  sup- 
posed devotion  to  the  cause  of 
ultra-royalty  and  ihe parti-pretre . 
Such  was  the  Cabinet,  consisting 
of  names  in  part  but  too  notorious 
at  the  present  hour,  whose  organ- 
ization signalized  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  1829;  and  it  was  re- 
ceived with  those  ominous  and 
threatening  bursts  of  public  indig- 
nation, w^iich  clearly  indicated  an 
approaching  crisis. 

If  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  had 
been  at  this  time  in  session,  the 
Opposition  w^ould,  of  course,  have 
chosen  that  as  the  theatre  of  their 
resistance  to  the  new  Cabinet,  and 
the  voice  of  France  would  there 
have  been  heard  on  this  momen- 
tous subject.  But  Charles  and 
his  Camarilla  had  purposely  se- 
lected this  moment  for  a  change 
of  Ministry,  in  order  to  give  the 


FRANCE.  253 

new  Ministers  time  to  mature    lie  movement  and  impulse,  was  at 
their  plans,  and  if  possible  ac-    this  time  free,  and  was  thus  ena- 
quire  firmness  in  their  places,  be-    bled  to  utter  the  decisions  of  the 
fore  they  should  be  called  upon  to    national  will,    and    invoke  the 
face  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  friends  of  liberty  and  order  to 
If  the  opinions  of  the  leading  men  stand  fast  each  by  the  other  in  the 
of  the  Nation  had  not  been  long  great  catastrophe  that  seemed  im- 
before  fully  made  up,  if  the  Peo-  pending.    In  what  manner  the 
pie  themselves  had  stood  in  need  Press  discharged  this  most  sacred 
of  any  regular  and  responsible  duty  we  shall  presently  see  ;  but 
concentration  of  public  opinion  for  that  it  was  not  the  Press,  which 
their  information  or  guidance  in  created  the  public  excitement  im- 
this  emergency,  the  King  would  mediately  consequent  on  the  ap- 
have  derived  great  advantage  from  poiutment  of  the  Polignac  minis- 
this  arrangement.  For  it  is  to  be  try,  is  satisfactorily  proved  by  the 
considered  that  France,  with  its  reception  given  to  La  Fayette  at 
thirty  millions  of  inhabitants,  pos-  this  period,  in  the  south  of  France, 
sessed  but  one  popular  assembly.       Since  the  Revolution  of  the 
but  one  body  in  which  the  great  Three  Days,  so  many  personal 
intelligences  of  the  times  could  in  details  and  anecdotes  in  illustra- 
their  own  persons  address  the  Ian-  tion  of  that  event  have  been  spread 
guage  of  warning  or  persuasion  to  before  the  world  in  the  newspa- 
iheir  fellow  citizens.  Provincial  pers,  that  all  men  now  understand 
bodies,  analogous  to  our  state  leg-  the  elevated  position  occupied  by 
islatures,  unfortunately  it  had  not ;  General  La  Fayette  in  his  own 
for,  by  a  pohtical  oversight  of  the  country.    They  have  seen  the 
most  fatal  character,  the  ancient  extraodinary  influence  exercised 
provinces,  which  at  the  Revolu-  by  him,  a  simple  Deputy,  in  giv- 
lion  offered  so  favorable  a  basis  for  ing  direction  to  the  march  of 
a  Federal  Republic,    had  been  opinions  and  of  action.  It  was  the 
sedulously  and  anxiously  melted  accumulated  result  of  reiterated 
down  in  the  revolutionary  cruci-  acts  of  lofty  patriotism  at  home, 
ble  into  one  homogeneous  mass,  brightened  by  the  reflected  splen- 
Political  meetings  of  an  occasion-  dor  of  his  illustrious  reputation  in 
al  nature,  suited  to  the  expression  another  hemisphere.    He  had  re- 
ef opinion  concerning  the  admin-  turned  to  France,  after  the  Amer- 
istration    of  public  affairs,  were  ican  war,  the  youthful  hero  of  a 
either  contrary  to  the  laws,  or  un-  new-born    empire.     With  the 
sanctioned  by  the  usages  of  the  characteristic  ardor  of  his  nature, 
French.    The  Press   remained,  he  threw  himself  into  that  Revo- 
and  the  Press  alone,  as  the  direct  lution,  which  in  its  outset  promis- 
and  legitimate  channel  for  com-  ed  so  much  for  the  lasting  good  c. 
municating  to  the  People  at  large  France.    When  bad  men  seized 
the  views  and  feelings,  the  hopes  upon  the  helm  of  state,  and  La 
and  apprehensions,  of  the  master-  Fayette   was   compelled  to  fly- 
minds  of  the  Nation.  Happily  the  from  a  country  reeling  with  the 
Press,  that  potent  engine  of  pub-  wild  vertigo  of  revolutionary  mad 
22* 


254 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ness,  he  became  the  iiisrt}  r  of 
hberty,  as  the  prisoner  of  him, 
v.  ho  worthily  rules  the  Croats  and 
Huns  on  the  borders  of  European 
civihzation  ;  —  of  him,  who,  not 
content  whh  the  infamy  which  at- 
tached to  the  name  of  Austria,  as 
ihe  kidnapper  and  base  jailer  of 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  suffered 
that  name  to  be  in  like  manner 
disgraced  once  more,  by  re- 
peating the  same  petty  outrage 
against  the  laws  of  hospitality  and 
lionor  in  the  person  of  La  Fay- 
ette. When  restored  to  personal 
freedom  and  to  his  country,  he 
proudly  and  conscientiously  refus- 
ed that  homage  to  the  victorious 
child  of  the  Revolution,  which  ma- 
ny n  emigre  professor  of  ultra  roy- 
alism  had  condescended  to  pay ,  but 
which  La  Fayette  could  not  be- 
stow even  upon  the '  great  Julius' 
when  '  fiilse  to  Rome. '  Consistent 
in  his  untiring  zeal  for  national  lib- 
erty at  the  latter  epoch  of  the  Res- 
toration, he  of  course  earned  the 
honor  of  being  hated  by  the  Bour- 
bons in  proportion  as  he  was  be- 
loved by  France.  Meantime  he 
revisited  America,  and  retrod,  in 
one  continued  ovation,  — such  as 
never  royal  progress  or  march  of 
oriental  pomp  had  exhibited, — 
the  scenes  of  his  early  usefulness 
and  glory.  Bringing  back  to  his 
native  country  a  treasureof  heart- 
felt blessings  and  heaped-up  to- 
kens of  eternal  gratitude,  to  show 
the  world  how  republicans  loved 
to  honor  their  benefactor,  he  re- 
appeared among  the  children  of 
young  France  as  the  patriarch  of 
ilie  revolution,  holding  in  1829 
the  liberal  opinions  of  1789,  un- 
shaken by  misfortune  or  change, 
and  standing  as  it  were  the  im- 


movable god  Terminus,  to  indi- 
cate the  limits  between  liberty  and 
despotism. 

Such  at  this  moment  was  the 
general  position  of  La  I'ayette, 
such  his  absolute  popularity  as  an 
individual.  His  intimate  connex- 
ion with  America  was  inciden- 
tally the  occasion  of  a  considera- 
ble enhancement  of  the  charm 
attached  to  his  name.  Col.  Le 
Va^seur's  Journal  of  his  patron's 
visit  to  America  had  recently  been 
pubHshed,  and  was  eagerly  read 
and  greatly  admired,  as  well  for 
its  own  intrinsic  merits,  as  onac- 
count  of  the  flattering  picture  it 
gives  of  the  political  condition  of 
the  United  States.  We  in  Amer- 
ica, who  judge  of  this  work  in  the 
translation,  and  who  are  familiar 
with  all  the  subjects  it  discusses, 
cannot  fully  appreciate  the  excel- 
lence and  value  ofit  as  composed 
for  the  meridian  of  France.  The 
highly  talented  and  most  estima- 
ble author  of  the  Journal,  who 
courageously  perilled  his  life  in 
the  combat  of  the  Three  Days, 
and  bore  off  in  honorable  wounds 
the  brave  man's  badge  of  glory, 
wrote  the  book  for  France,  who 
needed  the  examples  and  infor- 
mation it  contained,  not  for 
America,  who  already  possessed 
them  in  all  their  original  fullness. 
This  publication  therefore  so  op- 
portunely made,  while  it  directly 
added  to  the  celebrity  of  La  Fay- 
ette, operated  in  the  same  way 
indirectly,  by  reviving  the  sym- 
pathies of  enlightened  Frenchmen 
in  the  prosperity  of  repubhcan 
America,  and  gathering  those 
sympathies  around  La  Fayette  as 
the  visible  representative  of  trans- 
atlantic freedom. 


FRANCE. 


255 


These  explanations  are  neces- 
sary to  the  understanding  of  the 
fact  we  are  about  to  relate  ;  at  the 
same  time  that  they  will  serve  to 
elucidate  the  deference  paid  to  La 
Fayette,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see, 
in  the  preparation  and  accom- 
plishment of  the  revolution  of  the 
Three  Days.  When  the  ordi- 
nances nominating  the  new  Minis- 
ters appeared  in  the  Moniteur,  La 
Fayette  was  on  the  way  to  the 
south  of  France,  to  visit  his  patri- 
monial estates  in  his  native  prov- 
ince of  Auvergne,  which  had  been 
restored  to  him  under  the  law  of 
indemnity  ;  and  his  journey  was 
extended  to  the  delightful  resi- 
dence of  his  grand-daughter,  Mad- 
ame Adolphe  Perrier,  amid  the 
rich  valleys  of  Dauphiny  and  the 
Isere.  Nothing,  except  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  welcome  to 
America,  could  exceed  the  enthu- 
siasm with  which  La  Fayette  was 
fete  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns 
through  which  he  passed.  The 
people  seized  with  extreme  avid- 
ity upon  this  occasion  for  testify- 
ing their  admiration  of  a  great 
man,  and  their  sense  of  the  actual 
complexion  of  the  political  affairs 
of  the  country.  The  occasion 
was  most  auspicious  in  both  res- 
pects. 

Thirtyeight  years  had  rolled 
rapidly  away  since  La  Fayette 
was  last  among  them  ;  and  what 
a  mighty  mass  of  overpowering 
reflection  belonged  to  that  period 
in  the  flight  of  time  I  The  bright 
hopes  of  the  first  constitution,  the 
lurid  splendors  of  the  Republic, 
the  maddening  excitements  of  the 
Empire,  the  two  Restorations  with 
all  their  train  of  humiliating  con- 
sequences, arose  in  quick  succes- 


sion before  the  imagination. — 
Louis  XIV.,  the  rash  tribunes  of 
the  Republic,  Napoleon,  and  an- 
other Louis,  had  all  passed  off  like 
a  dream,  and  the  ^contest  for  the 
secure  possession  of  constitutional 
freedom,  formerly  waged  by  the 
people  of  1791,  was  now,  after  so 
many  bloody  but  fruitless  sacrifi- 
ces, renewedly  waging  by  the 
people  of  1829  with  untiring  res- 
olution and  pertinacity.  There 
lived  a  man,  bearing  the  name  of 
Charles  Capet,  and  the  title  of 
King  of  France,  to  whom  the 
dreadful  lessons  of  the  age  seem- 
ed as  water  spilled  on  the  ground, 
or  seed  scattered  on  the  surface  of 
the  ocean  ;  and  who  in  sight  of 
the  red  soil  of  the  Place  de  la 
Revolution  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  bronze  columns  of  the  Place 
Vendome  on  the  other,  was  medi- 
tating to  deprive  France,  as  she 
believed,  of  the  liberties  dearly 
bought  with  her  blood.  La  Fay- 
ette, the  champion  of  freedom  in 
1791,  reappeared  among  them 
again,  the  champion  of  freedom 
in  1 829  ;  and  he  seemed  as  one 
risen  from  the  dead,  the  resusci- 
tated memorial  of  a  by-gone  era., 
a  revenue  from  among  the  beati- 
fied spirits  of  the  early  days  of 
revolutionized  France,  come  to 
encourage  the  zealous,  to  fix  the 
wavering,  to  stimulate  the  phleg- 
matic, and  to  deliver  a  mission  of 
gratulation  and  hope  to  a  regener- 
ated race.  What  fitter  opportu- 
nity could  be  found  for  speaking 
out  the  universal  indignation  felt 
by  the  people  at  the  appointment 
of  a  ministry,  whose  very  existence 
in  office  they  considered  as  a  de- 
clared conspiracy  against  the 
Charter  ? 


256  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 

Accordingly,  every  conceivable  his  participation  in  the  solemnities 

demonstration  of  popular  regard  and  rejoicings  in  honor  of  La 

was  lavished  upon  La  Fayette.  —  Fayette  ;  but  unfortunately,  when ' 

His  reception  in  the  great  city  of  the  appointment  of  a  successor 

Lyons  may  be  taken  as  an  exam-  came  up  for  consideration,  no  in- 

ple  ofthe  enthusiasm  which  ani-  habitant  of  the  place,  qualified  by 

mated  the  friends  of  liberty.    He  law,  could  be  found,  who  had  not 

was  escorted  into  the  city  in  tri-  committed  the  same  unpardonable 

umph ;  illuminations  and  proces-  sin,  which  occasioned  the  remov- 

sions   honored   his   arrival;    a  al  of  the  late  mayor.   In  short  the 

magnificent  dinner  was  given  him,  people  had  now  acquired  a  vent 

which  several  distinguished  patri-  for  their  feelings,  a  channel  for 

ots  attended ;  and  the  toasts  and  pouring  out  their  sentiments  of 

speeches  pronounced  at  the  din-  contempt  of  the  Bourbons,  their 

ner,  were  proclaimed  in  every  cor-  indignation  at  the  appointment  of 

ner  of  France,  by  the  thousand  an  anti-constitutional  ministry,  and 

tongues  of  the  newspaper  press,  their  devoted  attachment  to  the 

and  in  myriads  of  small  pamphlets  Charter  and  the  great  principles 

purposely  printed  to  be  widely  of  the  Revolution.  And  the  King, 

circulated   among   the    people,  if  possessed  of  the  ordinary  dis- 

La  Fayette  and  his  friend,  in  their  cernment  and  understanding  of  a 

speeches,   denounced  the    new  child,  when  he  witnessed  the  loud, 

Ministers  as  the  enemies  of  their  general,  and  spontaneous  burst  of 

country,  placed  in  office  by  the  inflamed  feeling,  which  greeted 

King  as  the  first  act  in  a  systema-  the  accession  merely,  of  Ministers 

lized  design  for  arbitrarily  effect-  of  obnoxious  political  principles, 

ing  a  total  change  in  the  Charter,  might  have  anticipated  the  explo- 

and  circumscribing  the  rights  of  sion  to  be  produced  by  any  open 

the  People;    and  the  speakers  violation  of  the  Charter, 

boldly  and  confidently  declared  Meanwhile,  a  measure  of  oppo- 

that  France  never  would  and  nev-  sition  and  of  anticipated  security 

er  could  submit  to  such  usurpation,  against  usurpation  was  adopted, 

but  was  ready  to  maintain  by  force  which  perplexed  the  Government 

the  integrity  of  the  Charter.    The  still  m.ore  than  the  manifestation 

Ministers  interposed  all  the  obsta-  of  regard  for  La  Fayette,  because 

cles  they  could  devise  in  the  way  it  was  a  direct  attack  on  the  march 

of  this  continual  demonstration  of  of  the  Government  itself  Appre- 

public  exultation,  but  were  wholly  bending,  with  what  reason  we 

unable  to  prevent  its  taking  place,  shall  see  hereafter,  that  the  Min- 

The  vexation  and  annoyance  it  isters   intended   to  violate  the 

occasioned  them  was  excessive,  Charter,  that  a  part  of  the  scheme 

and  they  displayed  the  most  petty  would  be  an  arbitrary  change  of 

and  pitiable  resentment  in  their  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and 

attempts  to  check,  disparage,  or  that  the  taxes  must  of  course  be 

punish  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Peo-  voted  by  such  an  unconstitutional 

pie.   They  removed,  for  instance.  Legislature,  or  else  levied  by  roy- 

the  mayor  of  Vizille  on  account  of  al  ordinance  without  any  pretence 


FRANCE. 


257 


of  regard  for  the  forms]  of  the 
Charter,  the  people  nnmediately 
saw  that  the  taxes  afforded  a  point 
of  legal  and  peaceful  resistance  to 
the  Government,  of  the  most  ad- 
vantageous description.  It  was 
plainly  impossible  for  the  Minis- 
ters to  proceed  with  the  affairs  ot 
ihe  kingdom  without  pecuniary 
resources,  either  in  imposts  or 
loans  ;  and  the  latter  could  never 
be  obtained  unless  with  a  prospect 
of  repayment  by  means  of  the  for- 
mer, or  some  mode  of  permanent- 
ly binding  the  Nation  to  their  re- 
imbursement. If  the  constitutional 
represeatatives  of  the  People  were 
deprived  of  their  proper  influence 
in  the  Government,  as  regularly 
exercised  in  the  grant  of  supplies, 
the  People  themselves  had  the 
power  to  redress  the  wrong  by 
refusing  to  pay  any  tax  unlawfully 
imposed  on  their  estates.  The 
idea  was  deemed  a  happy  one  for 
the  liberal  and  national  party,  as 
it  was  a  dangerous  one  for  the 
Ministers  ;  and  a  plan  was  imme- 
diately arranged  and  put  in  opera- 
tion for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
desired  object,  which,  from  being 
first  adopted  by  the  landholders  of 
the  old  province  of  Bretagne,  be- 
came known  by  the  name  of  the 
Breton  Subscription  or  Associa- 
tion. 

This  Association  had  a  twofold 
object.  They  proposed  in  the 
first  place  to  refuse  to  pay  any 
illegal  tax,  and  in  the  second 
place  to  raise  by  contribution  a 
common  fund  for  indemnifying 
any  subscriber,  whose  property  or 
person  might  suffer  by  reason  of 
his  refusal.  An  article  of  the 
Prospectus  explains  the  plan  in 
the  words  of  the  projectors.  — 


'  The  Subscription  will  form,  a 
fund  common  to  Bretagne,  des- 
tined to  indemnify  the  subscribers 
for  the  expenses  which  they  may 
incur  in  consequence  of  a  refusal 
to  pay  public  contributions  illegally 
imposed  :  whether  without  the 
free,  regular  and  constitutional 
agreement  of  the  King  and  the 
two  Chambers,  in  conformity  with 
the  Charter  and  existing  laws,  or 
with  the  agreement  of  Chambers 
formed  by  an  electoral  system, 
which  shall  not  have  been  voted 
according  to  constitutional  forms.' 

The  scheme  appears  to  have 
been  a  perfect  one,  as  the  means 
of  peaceable  resistance  to  any 
arbitrary  acts  of  the  Govern- 
ment. If  generally  subscribed, 
the  prospectus  would  have  the 
effect  of  combining  the  whole  Na- 
tion in  a  lawful  confederacy  to  sus- 
tain the  Charter  in  spite  of  the 
physical  force  which  might  be 
wielded  by  the  King.  For  if  a 
subscriber  refused  to  pay  his  tax, 
the  Government  could  but  order 
a  distraint  on  his  property,  and  it 
was  easy  to  foresee  that  this 
would  not  benefit  the  Treasury. 
The  w  hole  of  the  classes  industri- 
elles,  the  great  capitalists  and  land- 
holders, the  possessors  of  the 
moveable  riches  of  the  country, 
were  in  general  ardent  friends  of 
the  liberal  cause.  If  they  enroll- 
ed themselves  as  parties  to  the 
Subscription,  a  distraint  would 
avail  nothing,  because  there  would 
be  nobody  to  buy  the  property 
distrained  ;  and  in  such  a  state  of 
things,  with  all  the  wealth  and  feel- 
ing of  the  Nation  on  one  side,  and 
nothing  but  a  taxgatherer's  war- 
rant on  the  other,  M.  de  Polignac 
would  be  greatly  puzzled,  even  if 


258 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


aided  by  all  the  alchymy  of  the 
baron  Hothschild  and  his  brothers, 
10  transmute  into  good  current 
iouisd'ors  that  all  important  por- 
tion of  the  annual  budget  of  one 
thousand  millions  of  francs,  which 
consists  in  direct  taxes.  If,  there- 
fore, a  more  summary  method  of 
testing  the  strength  of  parties  had 
not  been  adopted  during  the  Three 
Days,  it  seems  likely  that  the 
Ministry  must  have  gone  to  ship- 
wreck upon  the  shoalsof  the  Bre- 
ton Association ;  for  subscriptions 
were  extensively  formed  as  well  in 
the  other  provinces  as  in  Bretagne. 

A  Prospectus  of  the  intended 
Subscription  was  published  at 
Paris  on  the  11th  of  September, 
in  a  zealous  liberal  newspaper  call- 
ed the  Journal  (lu  Commerce,  even 
before  the  formation  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. The  Government  pro- 
fessed to  look  upon  the  mere  im- 
putation of  unconstitutional  inten- 
tions, conveyed  in  the  Prospectus, 
as  an  aggravated  seditious  libel  and 
according  ordered  the  prosecution 
of  M.  Bert,  the  gerant,  or  respon- 
sible conductor  of  the  Joi/r??«/  du 
Commerce.  The  ground  of  the 
prosecution  was  that  the  publica- 
tion tended  to  provoke  disobedi- 
ence to  the  laws,  and  to  bring  the 
King's  Government  into  hatred 
and  contempt,  by  spreading  a  be- 
lief that  the  Ministers  had  conspir- 
ed with  him  to  overthrow  the 
Charter.  And  although  the  editor 
was  condemned,  yet  the  princi- 
ples assumed  by  the  Court  in  giv- 
ing judgment  converted  the  defeat 
into  a  triumph.  The  Court  de- 
cided that,  as  the  acts  intended  to 
be  guarded  against  would  be  un- 
lawful in  the  highest  degree,  it 
was  an  outrage  on  the  Govern- 


ment to  ascribe  to  it  the  intention 
of  committing  those  acts  ;  thus  in- 
directly sanctioning  the  objects  and 
principles  of  the  Association,  while 
condemning  the  publication  of  the 
Prospectus. 

During  the  residue  of  the  au- 
tumn, and  until  the  announce- 
ment in  January  of  the  approach- 
ing assembly  of  the  Chambers,  no 
public  event  of  such  consequence 
transpired  ;  but  the  discussion  of 
the  great  political  question  now 
pending  agitated  all  France.  It  is 
not  true,  as  many  English  writers 
have'supposed,  that  the  great  pro- 
vincial cities  of  France  are  influ- 
enced solely  by  the  movements  of 
the  Parisians.  Lyons,  Rouen, 
Marseilles,  Bordeaux,  and  the  oth- 
er great  cities,  all  possess  their 
own  opinions  and  feelings,  which, 
in  matters  affecting  the  political 
condition  of  the  country,  have 
sometimes  been  in  advance  and 
sometimes  in  arrears  of  Paris. 
Still,  as  the  permanent  seat  of  the 
Government,  as  the  great  capital 
of  literature  and  fashion,  as  the 
occasional  residence  of  the  men 
of  wealth  and  influence  from 
the  provinces,  and  especially  as 
the  seat  of  an  administration, 
which  is  in  a  remarkable  de- 
gree centralized  and  organized 
into  a  regular  subdivision  and 
subordination  of  bureaux,  and  as 
the  focus  of  the  national  intel- 
ligence and  improvement,  Pa- 
ris, very  properly,  or  at  least  very 
naturally,  communicates  an  impe- 
tus and  a  tone  to  public  measures 
in  the  various  departments,  and 
therefore  seems  to  be  the  dictator 
of  that  national  sentiment,  of  which 
she  is  merely  the  visible  repre- 
sentative, the  chosen  mouth-piece, 


FRANCE. 


259 


and  as  it  were  the  concentra- 
tion and  the  collected  essence. 
There,  at  any  rate,  the  changes 
of  political  feeling  are  best  ob- 
served and  measured,  and  the 
opinions' expressed  there  will  be 
those  of  men  possessed  of  the 
largest  means  of  information  and 
the  most  competent  powers  of 
judgment.  In  addition  to  the 
Court,  the  high  functionaries  of 
Church  and  State,  the  wealthy 
manufacturers,  proprietors  and 
bankers,  the  multitude  of  unem- 
ployed officers  of  the  army,  the 
men  of  science  and  letters  attach- 
ed to  the  various  institutions  of 
the  metropolis,  and  the  intelligent 
strangers  attracted  from  abroad, 
are  to  be  reckoned  the  large  num- 
ber of  clerks  and  subordinate 
employes  of  the  public  offices  or 
private  enterprises  concentrated  in 
Paris.  Therefore,  in  tracing  the 
progress  of  opinion  and  events  in 
France  at  this  period,  it  will  prove 
to  be  sufficient,  in  general,  to 
draw  our  facts  and  inferences 
from  the  capital,  as  a  fit  barome- 
ter of  the  sentiments  of  the  whole 
country. 

Paris  was,  in  fact,  the  place 
in  which  the  Ministers  them- 
selves chose  to  discuss  their  own 
purposes,  through  that  division  of 
the  press,  which  acted  as  their 
organ,  and  where  of  course  the 
opposition  exerted  their  greatest 
strength  in  the  same  way.  Dur- 
ing the  last  two  years  the  Press 
having  been  free  from  the  shac- 
kles of  the  censure,  had  spoken 
with  a  boldness  and  talent,  espe- 
cially in  Paris,  which  had  con- 
verted all  men  into  politicians, 
and  had  rendered  the  perusal  of 
racy  political  disquisitions  one  of 


the  necessaries  of  life.  The  fa- 
vored modes  of  living  in  Paris 
greatly  facilitated  the  extensive 
circulation  of  the  public  journals, 
by  spreading  them  before  the 
thousands  who  frequented  the 
Cafes,  to  which  same  end  the 
establishment  of  numerous  Cahi- 
nets  de  Lecture  largely  contribu- 
ted. The  number  of  places  of 
refreshment  at  Paris,  under  vari- 
ous names,  at  which  the  journals 
can  be  read,  is  well  known  to  be 
very  great  in  itself,  and  they  are 
scattered  over  every  part  of  the 
city;  being,  of  course,  especially 
numerous  in  the  Palais  Royal,  on 
the  Boulevards,  and  in  other  quar- 
ters, where  amusement  or  business 
attracts  the  greatest  concourse  of 
persons.  But  places  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  reading  the  newspa- 
pers and  other  light  periodical 
publications  had  been  multiplied 
at  the  period  in  question,  through 
the  growing  interest  felt  in  the 
subject  of  politics,  created  by  the 
progress  of  free  discussion.  These 
Cabinet  de  Lectures  are  a  kind  of 
reading  rooms  wholly  unknown 
among  us,  being  well  suited  to 
the  exigencies  of  a  numerous  and 
unsettled  population  like  that  of 
Paris,  and  admirably  calculated 
for  their  wants  and  tastes ;  but 
very  different  from  the  reading 
rooms  which  are  found  in  our 
large  towns,  whether  provided  by 
editors  of  journals,  private  associ- 
ations, or  commercial  and  literary 
bodies  of  various  kinds.  The 
citizens  or  stranger,  who  enters  the 
Cabinet  de  Lecture,  pays  a  sous 
for  the  perusal  of  any  paper  he 
may  select ;  and  in  the  favorite 
promenades  and  public  gardens, 
as  in  the  Tuileries  and  elsewhere, 


260 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


little  pavilions  are  tenanted  by  in- 
dividuals, who  keep  a  collection 
of  the  journals  to  be  let  on  the 
same  terms.  In  addition,  there- 
fore to  the  ordinary  means  of 
circulating  political  disquisitions, 
which  exist  in  other  places,  Paris 
possessed  others  peculiar  to  itself, 
which  gave  to  the  spirited  and 
eloquent  articles  of  the  journalist 
a  notoriety  unequalled  for  extent 
and  celerity  of  diffusion.  The 
liberal  party  availed  themselves 
of  the  facilities  thus  afforded,  with 
consummate  address  and  extra- 
ordinary zeal ;  spreading  before 
the  reading  public,  in  pamphlets, 
newspapers,  and  \aYS,ev periodicals 
an  unremitted  treat  of  the  most 
appetizing  ingredients ;  maintain- 
ing, in  short,  a  war  of  argument, 
ridicule,  and  denunciation  against 
the  Ministers,  to  which,  indeed, 
the  latter  responded,  but  with  far 
less  efficiency  and  ability,  and  in- 
comparably less  of  influence  on 
the  minds  of  the  People. 

Foremost  in  violence  of  lan- 
guage and  pungency  of  matter 
were  innumerable  pamphlets  of 
various  kinds,  from  the  argumen- 
tative octavo  down  to  the  little 
five  sous  brochure,  which  made 
up  in  extent  of  circulation  for 
what  it  wanted  in  dignity  of  form. 
Vituperative  histories  of  the  lives 
and  past  conduct  of  the  several 
Ministers  ;  sharp  and  bitter  crit- 
iques on  their  speeches,  writings, 
and  state  papers  ;  denunciations 
of  their  character  and  purposes 
of  the  severest  strain  ;  pithy  anec- 
dotes and  hons-mots,  in  short,  every 
form  of  attack  and  annoyance, 
which  the  fertile  minds  and  busy 
hands  in  the  great  literary  work- 
shop of  Paris  could  devise  and  ex- 


ecute composed  the  staple  of  the 
multitude  of  light  publications. 
Being  printed  clandestinely  and 
anonymously  in  many  cases,  and 
thus  free  from  the  responsibility, 
ehher  to  the  laws  or  to  good  man- 
ners, which  checked  the  boldness 
of  the  periodical  Press,  these  pam- 
phlets were  often  peculiarly  daring 
and  personal  in  assailing  the  royal 
family  as  well  as  the  officers  of 
Government.  Such  interesting 
works  gave  ample  occupation  to 
the  presses  of  that  very  prolific 
and  highly  respectable  firm,  '  Les 
March^ands  des  Nouveautes,' 
whose  publications  might  easily 
be  found  on  the  counters  of  the 
Palais  Royal  and  in  the  Passage 
Colbert  or  Vero-Dodat,  but 
whose  printing  office  or  study 
would  be  rather  likely  to  elude  ob- 
servation. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that 
in  these  brochures  some  Bussy- 
Rabutin  would  not  fail  to  handle 
with  little  reverence  the  scanda- 
lous chronicle  of  the  alleged  ten- 
der interest  of  a  certain  Comte 
d'Artois  in  the  Prince  Polignac  ; 
that  the  English  connexions, 
known  EngHsh  partialities,  and 
supposed  English  dependency  of 
the  new  Premier  were  blazonea 
in  glaring  colors ;  and  that  his 
want  of  capacity,  his  subserviency 
to  the  Jesuits  and  his  hostile  in- 
tentions towards  the  Charter, 
were  held  up  to  public  scorn  and 
indignation  with  all  the  warmth  of 
enthusiastic  but  unscrupulous  elo- 
quence. The  Comte  de  Bour- 
mont  presented  another  favorite 
object  of  attack,  in  which,  indeed, 
his  whole  military  and  political 
life  were  treated  with  unsparing 
severity,  but    which  aimed  its 


\ 


keenest  shafts,  of  course,  against 
his  traitorous  abandonment  of  the 
Nation  prior  to  the  battle  of  Wa- 
terloo :  —  For  few,  very  few  of 
his  countrymen  could  be  found, 
who  did  not  view  that  act  of  double 
fasehood  considering  the  precise 
moment  v/hen  it  was  perpetrated, 
as  treason  to  France  rather  than  to 
Napoleon.  During  the  few  months 
he  was  in  office,  the  Comte  de 
La  Bourdonnaye  was  equally 
loaded  with  obloquy  for  the  ex- 
travagance and  absurdity  of  his 
avowed  political  creed,  as  the 
preux  chevalier  of  ultraism,  the 
Don  Quixote  of  the  extreme  droits 
who  had  opposed  M.  de  Villele 
as  almost  a  liberal,  and  M.  de 
Martignac  as  little  better  than  a 
jacobin.  MM.  Courvoisier,  de 
Montbel,  and  Chabrol  afforded 
fewer  grounds  of  violent  reproach 
than  their  colleagues ;  but  they 
must  have  been  more  than  human 
to  have  presented  no  weak  point 
to  the  keen  scrutiny  of  the  wits  of 
Paris,  who  knew  how  to  depreci- 
ate and  ridicule  where  they  could 
not  condemn.  And  we  ought  to 
remark,  in  this  connexion,  that 
the  new  Prefect  of  Police,  M. 
Mangin,  was  commemorated,  in 
these  ephemeral  publications,  with 
more  than  his  due  share  of  bitter- 
ness on  account  of  his  zealous  and 
uncompromising  Bourhonism. 

The  productions  of  the  graver 
and  of  the  lithographic  pencil 
might  well  have  a  place  by  the 
side  of  the  foregoing  skirmish- 
ers and  light  troops  of  political 
warfare.  Indeed  the  lithographic 
press  is  going  far  towards  opera- 
ting the  same  revolution  in  regard 
to  the  art  of  engraving,  that  the 
printing  press  has  in  respect  of 
23 


NCE.  JWl 

writing,  having  a  similar,  although 
not  equal,  comparative  facility  and 
cheapness  in  the  multiplication  of 
its  productions.  Of  course,  it  is 
capable  of  no  little  efficiency  as 
the  vehicle  for  circulating  impres-  - 
sions  and  sketches,  and  tlius  act- 
ing upon  the  popular  mind.  But 
the  French  are  not  particularly 
happy  in  the  design  or  invention 
of  political  caricatures.  In  this 
particular  they  are  greatly  sur- 
passed by  the  English,  while  the 
latter  are  immeasurably  behind 
their  national  rivals  in  the  compo- 
sition of  witty  and  well  aimed 
controversial  writings  of  a  light 
character.  If  the  stage  had  not 
been  too  directly  nnder  the  su- 
pervision of  the  Police,  the  pub- 
lic feeling  would  have  sought  and 
found  a  ready  utterance  in  the 
lesser  theatres  of  Paris.  When- 
ever a  line  occurred  in  Marino 
Faliero  or  the  other  current  pieces 
of  the  day,  which  admitted  of 
application  to  public  affairs,  the 
excitable  spirits  of  the  parterre 
were  sure  to  single  it  out  for  their 
applause.  But  the  Government 
jealously  watched  to  prevent  any- 
thing of  a  political  tendency  from 
being  introduced  on  the  stage.  A 
trifling  incident  betrayed  their 
sensitiveness  on  this  point.  The 
play  of  Paul  et  Virginie  had 
been  announced  by  one  of  the 
minor  theatres,  which  little  piece 
has  among  its  dramatis  personts 
a  man  of  the  name  of  La  Bour^ 
donnaye.  This  was  quite  suffi- 
cient to  awaken  the  apprehensions 
of  the  Government,  who  antici- 
pated, perhaps,  that  the  occasion 
might  be  embraced  by  some  mei-- 
ry  *  gentlemen  about  town'  to  ex- 
hibit marks  of  affection  for  the 


262 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ministerial  namesake  of  Saint- 
Pierre's  worthy  governor ;  and 
Paulet  Virginib  was  accordingly 
withdrawn  and  another  play  sub- 
stituted in  its  place. 

But  we  are  to  look  to  the  po- 
litical journals,  as  the  most  vig- 
orous and  efficient  combatants  in 
the  war  of  words  which  raged  at 
this  time ;  and  as  they  exercised 
great  influence  over  the  public 
sentiment  during  the  whole  period 
of  the  struggle  between  the  two 
antagonist  parties  in  the  kingdom, 
and  at  the  crisis  of  the  Three  Days 
iicquired  a  direct  historical  interest 
in  the  Revolution,  it  is  proper  to 
enter  here  into  some  explanation  of 
the  condition  of  the  Newspaper 
Press  in  Paris.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  examine  the  legal  ques- 
tions and  provisions  relating  to  this 
head,  any  further  than  to  state 
that,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
preliminary  forms  attending  the 
establishment  of  a  newspaper,  one 
of  which  was  the  very  just  one  of 
giving  responsible  security  to  meet 
any  claim  of  damages  which  might 
arise,  the  newspaper  press  was  at 
this  time  substantially  free  in  the 
same  sense  that  it  is  in  the  Uni- 
ted States.  In  giving  such  secu- 
rity, the  editor  of  a  journal  vvas 
required  to  choose  his  vocation, 
for  the  reason  that  a  political  jour- 
nal assumed  liabilities  of  a  differ- 
ent kind  from  those  which  attach- 
ed to  a  journal  des  modes,  a  lite- 
rary periodical,  or  a  theatrical 
courier.  And  some  of  our  read- 
ers may  need  to  be  informed 
that  a  much  more  complete  sub- 
division and  classification  of  the 
public  journals  exist  in  France 
than  ia  England  or  America. 
Each  jtuille  being  small  in  its 


dimensions,  compared  with  ours, 
is  usually  appropriated,  in  a  great- 
er or  less  degree,  to  a  single  class 
of  subjects,  paying  only  incidental 
attention  to  others  out  of  its  main 
province,  instead  of  presenting  a 
comprehensive  and  universal  epi- 
tome of  intelligence,  miscellany, 
and  disquisition.  Thus  one  di- 
vision of  the  Paris  journals  is  de- 
voted mainly  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  tribunals,  another  to 
the  theatres,  others  to  religion,  to 
literature,  to  the  fashions,  to  dis- 
tinct departments  of  science  and 
the  arts,  and  so  forth  ;  and  these, 
by  the  conditions  of  their  authori- 
zation, abstain  from  entering  upon 
the  troubled  sea  of  political  dis- 
cussion, unless  they  give  security 
for  that  express  object.  It  is  cus- 
tomary, also,  to  issue  sheets  de- 
voted altogether  to  advertise- 
ments, called  .^^cAe^;  so  that  un- 
like ours,  the  popular  daily  politi- 
cal journals  of  Paris,  such  as  the 
Journal  des  Debats  and  ihc  Con- 
stitutionnel,  contain  but  few  ad- 
vertisements, and  a  very  large 
proportion  of  purely  original  mat- 
ter, on  political  subjects.  Of 
course,  the  whole  system  of  the  me- 
chanical arrangements  appertain- 
ing to  the  political  journals  in  Paris 
is  totally  different  from  our  own  ; 
and  a  popular/ewiY/e  of  that  class, 
instead  of  being  made  up  of  a 
heterogeneous  mass  of  public  doc- 
uments, laws,  judicial  proceed- 
ings, advertisements,  and  stale 
migratory  extracts  from  other  pa- 
pers, is  a  valuable  original  sheet 
of  political  news  and  discussions, 
enlivened  by  the  admixture  only 
of  such  a  portion  of  other  inter- 
esting topics  as  may  serve  to  give 
zest  to  the  more  solid  contents  of 


FRANCE. 


263 


the  pajier.  They  constitute  a 
vehicle  in  which  a  man  of  standing 
and  talent,  an  eminent  statesman, 
a  profound  scholar,  a  peer  of  rank 
and  lineage,  may,  without  dero- 
gation from  his  character,  com- 
municate his  opinions  and  views 
of  public  affairs  to  the  People. 

One  of  these  journals,  it  is  well 
known,  is  a  sort  of  national  fixture, 
a  part  of  the  machinery  of  the 
Government,  which  ,  has  altered 
its  principles  a  hundred  times  in 
half  a  century  without  losing  its 
consistency,  and  which,  although 
continually  changing,  is  always 
the  same.  The  Moniteur  is  al- 
ways the  organ  of  the  Govern- 
ment, just  in  the  same  way  as 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  the 
elements  of  speech ;  and  the 
Moniteur  feels  no  more  personal 
responsibility  (so  to  speak)  for  the 
sentiments  it  utters,  than  the  al- 
phabet does  for  the  use  we  make 
of  it  in  the  intercourse  of  life. 
This  journal  performs  a  double 
duty,  being,  in  the  first  place,  the 
authoritative  publisher  of  all  gov- 
ernment acts,  such  as  royal  ordi- 
nances, and  the  like,  and  being 
employed,  in  the  second  place,  to 
defend  or  explain  the  doings  of 
the  Ministers  upon  information 
furnished  by  themselves  for  that 
purpose.  It  is  an  arrangement 
which  seems  to  us  to  possess 
manifold  advantages  in  this  re- 
spect. It  is  highly  desirable  that 
a  single  journal  should  constantly 
appear  at  the  seat  of  administra- 
tion of  a  great  country,  for  the 
information  as  well  of  its  own 
citizens  as  of  foreign  nations. 
Great  inconveniences  ensue  from 
the  want  of  such  a  newspaper  in 
those  countries  where  the  plan  is 


imperfectly  carried  into  efTect. 
In  England,  although  the  Courier 
was  long  the  nearest  accredit- 
ed organ  of  the  Ministers,  yet  it 
never  was  identified  with  the 
Government  like  the  Moniteur, 
and  on  a  change  of  administra- 
tion has  ceased  to  possess  any 
particular  authority.  In  the  Uni- 
ted States,  the  Journal  has  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Intelligencer  as 
the  official  paper,  and  the  Tele- 
grapli  to  the  Journal,  and  now 
again  the  Globe  to  the  Telegraph, 
as  the  shifting  tides  of  popular  fa- 
vor ebb  and  flow,  and  one  party 
after  another  gains  a  temporary 
ascendency  at  Washington.  It 
would  be  infinitely  better  to  imi- 
tate the  example  of  the  French, 
m  order  that  all  men,  at  all  times 
and  places,  the  citizen  and  the 
foreigner,  the  present  generation 
and  the  future  historian,  might  be 
able  to  recur  to  a  single  journal  to 
obtain  a  sure  exposition  of  the 
views  of  the  Government  itself 
and  an  authoritative  record  of  its 
acts.  It  is  no  objection  to  this  to 
say  that  the  pages  of  the  Moniteur 
exhibit  principles  of  the  most  va- 
rious and  opposite  character,  and 
that  so  it  is  inconsistent  with  it- 
self. So  is  the  statute-book  in- 
consistent ;  for  this  year  it  con- 
tains a  repeal  of  the  law  which  it 
promulgated  the  last,  although 
its  name  remains  unchanged.  It 
is  important  now,  it  is  desirable 
hereafter,  to  know  what  Ministers 
think,  as  well  as  what  they  do ; 
and  no  permanent  individuality  of 
character  being  claimed  by  the 
Moniteur^  no  consistency  is  for- 
feited by  its  adopting  the  succes- 
sive colors  of  the  existing  Gov- 
ernment. 


264 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —30. 


But  while  the  Polignac  Minis- 
try found  an  advocate  in  the  Mon- 
itcur  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  re- 
lied u[)on  other  journals,  the  pro- 
fessed adherents  of  the  royalist 
party  as  a  party,  and  by  conse- 
quence of  the  leaders  of  that  par- 
ty  when  invested  with  the  direc- 
tion of  public  affairs.  It  appears 
from  some  of  the  curious  manu- 
scripts found  in  the  Tuileries  since 
the  expulsion  of  the  Bourbons, 
that  they  very  liberally  employed 
the  public  money  in  the  support 
of  newspapers  fivorable  to  their 
cause,  particularly  at  this  contin- 
gency. No  less  than  five  milhons 
of  francs  had  been  expended  in 
the  purchase  of  anti-national  jour- 
nals. jLe  Pilote  had  received 
four  hundred  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand four  hundred  francs  ;  Les 
Tahlettes  Universelles  three  hun- 
dred and  eightyfour  thousand  fif- 
lythree  francs  ;  Le  Journal  de 
Paris  nine  hundred  and  eightyfour 
thousand  nine  hundred  francs ; 
L^Oriflamme  four  hundred  and 
twentysix  thousand  seven  hundred 
ibrtyone ;  La  Quotidienne  four 
hundred  and  fortytwo  thousand 
three  hundred  sixtyfour  francs  ; 
IjC  Journal  des  Maires  four  hun- 
dred and  sixtythree  thousand  five 
Imndred  francs;  LaFoudre  for- 
ty nine  thousand  francs;  La  Ga- 
zette de  France  three  hundred 
and  ninetyone  thousand  six  hun- 
dred thirty  diree  francs.  The 
Government  was  fully  aware,  no 
doubt,  of  the  truth  and  justice  of 
that  principle  which  is  laid  down 
by  Sir  Francis  North,  who  re- 
cords of  himself  that,  while  other 
advisers  of  the  Crown  had  urged 
prosecutions  against  those  who 
libelled  the  Ministers,  he  propos- 


ed the  triumphant  expedient  of 
meeting  the  libellers  on  their  own 
ground  by  means  of  talented  wri- 
ters employed  to  defend  the  Min- 
isters. Prosecutions,  he  wisely 
remarks,  only  serve  in  such  cases 
to  give  popularity  and  importance 
to  obscure  writers  of  pamphlets 
and  riewspaper  paragraphs.  Let 
the  Ministers  employ  the  same 
weapons  of  satire  and  argument  in 
beating  down  the  Opposition  which 
the  latter  directs  against  them  and 
their  chance  of  success  will  in 
general  be  far  greater  than  by 
filing  criminal  informations.  M. 
de  Polignac  made  use  of  both 
expedients,  it  is  true,  the  latter  as 
well  as  the  former  ;  and  the  roy- 
alist journals  in  his  pay  display- 
ed as  much  acrimony,  if  not  as 
much  sincerity  and  talent,  as  their 
more  numerous  adversaries. 
Among  the  newspapers  entitled 
to  particular  consideration  as  tak- 
ing the  royalist  part  in  the  great 
constitutional  controversy  awaken- 
ed by  the  appointment  of  the  new 
Ministry,  the  Qiiotidienne  and  the 
Gazette  de  France  should  be 
mentioned  as  possessing  the  re- 
spectability of  established  daily 
journals,  having  a  name  and  repu- 
tation in  the  departments  as  well 
as  at  Paris.  These  two  newspa- 
pers participated,  it  will  be  seen^ 
in  the  pecuniary  support  directly 
afforded  by  Government  to  the 
ministerial  section  of  the  Press^ 
and  are  therefore  open  to  the  ex- 
ception of  acting  a  mercenary  part 
as  the  paid  agents  and  advocates 
of  the  measures  and  the  men  they 
upheld.  Still  their  patrons,  sup- 
porters, and  conductors  were  all 
of  the  royalist  side  from  principle, 
or  at  least  in  principle  ;  and  they 


FRANCE. 


265 


undoubtedly  maintained  the  same 
cause  they  would  have  done  with- 
out any  golden  promptings  from 
the  Government. 

It  is  perfectly  notorious  that 
vastly  moreof  talent,  standing,  and 
intelligence  was  enlisted  in  the 
liberal  journals,  in  the  same  pro- 
portion that  the  French  Nation, 
and  especially  the  ardent  young 
spirits  of  the  rising  generation, 
were  in  a  great  measure  heartily 
attached  to  the  liberal  cause,  and 
either  zealously  opposed  to  the 
Bourbons,  or  at  any  rate  deter- 
mined to  maintain  the  integrity  of 
the  Charter.  In  fact  the  mindo^ 
France  viewed  the  contest  as  one 
between  the  Nation,  and  a  single 
family,  however  the  high  ecclesi- 
astics and  the  emigres  nobles 
might  give  seeming  numbers  and 
adherents  to  that  single  family.  — 
When,  therefore,  we  come  to 
speak  of  the  Constitutionnel,  the 
Journal  des  Debats,  the  Globe, 
and  other  liberal  papers,  we  have 
no  longer  to  deal  with  mercenary 
clerks  in  the  public  bureaux  writ- 
ing up  the  reputation  of  their  chefs, 
or  humble  Grub-street  drudges, 
executing  so  many  squares  of 
newspaper  articles  according  to 
order  to  earn  their  daily  bread,  or 
unprincipled  hirelings  laboring  on 
through  columns  ofvulgar  ribaldry 
or  blundering  fatuity  in  support  of 
a  bad  cause.  It  was  the  Con- 
stants, the  Chateaubriands,  the 
Jays,  the  Keratrys,  the  Gul- 
zots,  the  Broglies,  and  others  of 
the  great  literary  illustrations  of 
France,  who  gave  dignity  and  in- 
fluence to  the  sheets  of  the  oppo- 
sition presses ;  although  younger 
and  meaner  men  were  their  col- 
laborateurs  and  the  responsible 
23* 


editors  of  these  journals  ;  for  who 
would  not  have  been  proud  to  act 
with  such  associates,  in  the  fur- 
therance of  principles  equally  dear 
to  the  hearts  of  all  ?  And  al- 
though they  differed  in  minor  ob- 
jects, some  being  for  a  Republic, 
some  for  the  Charter  as  it  stood, 
for  Charles  X.,  but  with  better 
advisers  around  his  throne,  and 
some  for  an  amendment  Charter, 
and  another  dynasty  to  wear  the 
crown,  yet  all  agreed  in  attach- 
ment to  France,  and  hostility  to 
M.  de  Polignac  and  his  associates 
as  the  enemies  of  France. 

When  this  administration  came 
into  office,  five  popular  daily  jour- 
nals immediately  and  ardently 
arrayed  themselves  against  it.  — 
Two  of  these,  the  Constitution- 
nel  and  the  Journal  des  Debats, 
had  a  wider  circulation,  and  ex- 
ercised a  greater  influence,  than 
any  other  papers  in  France.  — 
One  of  these,  to  be  sure,  spoke 
the  well  known  sentiments  of 
Chateaubriand,  who,  through  all 
his  active  opposition  to  the  Villele 
ministry,  and  in  his  opposition  to 
the  Polignac  ministry,  retained  his 
fidelity  to  the  Bourbon  interest, 
which,  indeed,  he  has  manfully 
acted  up  to  since  the  Revolution  of 
the  Three  Days.  How  far  re- 
sentment against  M.  de  Villele 
may  have  influenced  M  de  Cha- 
teaubriand we  pretend  not  to  say ; 
nor  is  it  material,  in  considering 
the  effect  of  his  writings  upon  the 
popularity  of  the  Government. — 
But  the  other,  the  Constitution' 
nel,  entertained  no  scruples  to 
prevent  its  entering  thoroughly  in- 
to the  cause  of  the  Charter  and 
the  People,  at  whatever  risk  to 
the  Bourbons.   Next  to  these  in 


266 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


credit  were  the  Journal  du  Com- 
merce, a  paper  conducted  \  ^li 
p'p^at  boldness  as  well  as  talc:jl, 
•M  <i  the  Courrier  Froncais. — 
Tlie  Messager  des  Chambres 
was  originally  established  in  favor 
of  the  Mariignac  ministry,  but 
under  new  control  now  passed  in- 
to the  ranks  of  the  Opposition. 

Without  undertaking  to  specify 
or  characterize  all  the  daily  or 
other  papers  on  both  sides,  which 
at  this  time  existed,  we  mention 
two  others  that  were  distinguished 
for  the  efficacy  of  their  para- 
graphs. One  of  these  is  called  Le 
Figaro,  The  journals,  which  we 
have  heretofore  mentioned,  are 
dignified  gazettes  of  that  class 
wdiich  must  necessarily  cultivate 
a  certain  degree  of  retenu  and 
good  manners  m  their  style  of  dis- 
cussion and  the  tenor  of  their  arti- 
cles. They  contain  powerful  dis- 
cussions of  great  constitutional 
questions  ;  elaborate  disquisitions 
on  the  state  and  prospects  of  the 
country ;  earnest  appeals  to  the 
good  sense,  patriotism,  and  high 
feeling  of  the  Nation  ;  and  at- 
tacks on  the  character,  principles, 
unci  measures  of  the  Ministers  of 
a  more  labored  and  less  un- 
assuming nature.  But  the  Fig- 
arohad  no  dignity  to  maintain, 
or  bienseances  to  consult.  Rid- 
icule, sarcasm,  cutting  unspar- 
ing satire,  wit  in  every  shape, 
such  are  the  weapons  of  the 
Figaro  ;  and  it  must  be  confess- 
ed that,  however  light  and  super- 
ficial its  articles,  they  were  sig- 
nalized by  talent,  spirit,  ingenui- 
ty, and  point,  which  made  them 
often  of  more«  avail  than  the  most 
eloquent  effusions  of  the  Journal 
des  Debatsof'ihe  Constituiionnel. 
And  a  miscellaneous  Sunday  jour- 


nal, denominated  the  Courrier  des 
Electeurs,  acted  its  part  very  effi- 
ciently, by  exhibiting,  often  in 
light  spirited  articles,  equal  hostil- 
ity against  the  Ministers.  An 
example  will  best  illustrate  the 
nature  of  these  little  paragraphs. 
'  On  construit,'  says  the  Courrier 
des  ElectevrSy  '  en  ce  moment  des 
voitures,  qui  feront  la  route  de 
Paris  a  Bruxelles,  et  qu'  on  ap- 
pellera  Bourmontaises alluding 
to  the  familiar  carriages  of  Paris 
called  Ecossaises,  JBearnaises,  &;c. 
Again,  says  the  Courrier  :  '  On 
vend  au  Palais  Royal  un  grand 
nombre  de  tabatieres  sur  lesquel- 
les  est  representee  la  Sainta  Cene 
de  Paul  Veronese,  avec  ces  mot 
au  bas  :  En  verite  je  vous  le  dis, 
I'un  de  vous  doit  me  trahir.  On 
les  appelle  boites  d  la  Bourmonte.^ 
Another  paragraph  states  the 
amount  of  his  appointments  in 
these  words  :  '  Tarif  de  la  Fide- 
lite.  Bourmont  recoit  pour  les  ser- 
vices quHl  a  rendus  dans  la  jour- 
nee  c?M  16  Juin,  1815,  un  traite- 
ment  annuel  de  163,100  francs, 
savoir,  &lc,  &:c.  —  Pour  sa  part 
de  I'indernnite,  lui,  general  de  la 
Chouannerie  e.t  de  VEmpire,  il  a 
touche  106,871  francs.'  We 
give  these  extracts,  not  as  speci- 
mens, but  as  examples,  of  the 
style  and  spirit  of  the  unceasing 
storm  of  political  missiles,  that 
were  thus  showered  upon  the  new 
Ministers. 

Leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  Pariscr  Zeitung  and  Galigna- 
ni's  Messenger,  papers  printed  one 
in  German  and  the  other  in  En- 
glish, and  the  latter  with  an  evident 
leaning  to  the  popular  cause,  we 
see  that  the  majority  of  the  jour- 
nals in  number,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  ably  conducted, 


FRANCE. 


were  opposed  to  the  Ministers.  — 
At  the  same  time,  tlie  increasing 
iermentation  of  the  public  mind, 
the  apprehension  universally  en- 
tertained of  an  approaching  crisis, 
and  the  enthusiastic  ardor,  of  the 
young  politicians  of  the  day  led 
to  the  establishment,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months,  of  several  new 
papers,  which  outstripped  the  old- 
er Journals  in  boldness,  and  have 
acquired  a  lasting  reputation  by 
the  events  of  the  Three  Days.  — 
Such  are  the  Temps,  the  Nation- 
al, and  the  He  volution,  — journals 
whose  names  are  sufficiently  indi- 
cative of  their  character.  They 
started  into  being  amid  the  con- 
cussion of  passions  and  opinions, 
*  to  share  in  the  glory  and  danger 
of  the  struggle  ;'  and  threw  them- 
selves into  the  contest  with  a  fear- 
lessness and  a  violence  of  spirit, 
which  nothing  but  the  extremity 
of  the  public  exigencies  could 
have  called  for  and  justified. — 
And  in  the  course  of  the  winter 
the  Globe,  a  philosophical  and 
literary  journal,  distinguished  by 
the  contributions  ofM.  Guizot  and 
the  Due  de  Broglie,  quitted  its 
academic  walks  to  engage  in  the 
agitations  of  the  forum.  In  short, 
an  extraordinary  combination  of 
ability  and  zeal  was  now  exerting 
itself  through  the  liberal  press, 
having  for  its  professed  object  the 
maintenance  of  the  Charter,  but 
apparently  aiming  at,  or  at  least 
countenancing  some  ulterior  ob- 
ject; thus  constituting  a  new 
power  in  the  nation,  which  the 
royalist  party  designated  by  the 
name  of  Journalisme.  In  fact 
Journalisme  and  the  Comite  Di- 
recteur  formed  at  this  period  the 
bugbear  of  the  royalists,  as  the 


Congregation  did  that  of  the  lib- 
erals. It  is  presumable  that  neith- 
er party  was  entirely  mistaken  in 
ascribing  influence  to  these  mys- 
terious abstractions  ;  and  that  they 
were  not  mere  phantoms  of  the 
imagination,  conjured  up  by  ex- 
cited feelings  in  the  murky  atmo- 
sphere of  civil  discord. 

Journalisme,  it  is  plain,  was  no 
imaginary  existence,  but  a  potent 
and  terrible  engine  of  the  times, 
which  might  well  awaken  the 
dread  of  an  interested  party,  or  of 
anti-national  Ministers.  The  pe- 
riodical Press  was  anything  but  a 
phantom.  It  was  the  Nation  de- 
claring itself  against  the  King,  and 
against  his  policy,  his  measures, 
his  principles,  and  his  advisers.  — 
Without  referring  to  any  inferior 
authority,  we  will  quote,  from  the 
celebrated  Report  of  the  Minis- 
ters themselves,  their  views  of  the 
influence'and  tendency  of  Journal- 
ism. *  It  would  be  denying  wliat 
is  self  evident,'  they  say,  '  to  re- 
fuse seeing  in  the  journals  the 
principal  focus  of  a  corruption, 
the  progress  of  which  is  every 
day  more  sensible,  and  the  first 
source  of  the  calamities  which 
threaten  the  Kingdom.  Experi- 
ence speaks  more  loudly  than 
theories.  Men  who  are  doubtless 
enlightened,  and  whose  good  faith 
is  not  suspected,  led  away  by  the 
ill-understood  example  of  a  neigh- 
boring people,  may  have  believed 
that  the  advantages  of  the  period- 
ical Press,  would  balance  its  in- 
conveniences, and  that  its  excesses 
would  be  neutralized  by  contrary 
excesses.  It  is  not  so  :  the  proof 
is  decisive,  and  the  question  is 
now  judged  in  the  public  mind.  — 
At  all  times,  in  fact,  the  periodi- 


268  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


cal  Press  has  been,  and  it  is  in  its 
nature  to  be,  only  an  instrument 
of  disorder  and  sedition.  *  *  * 
It  endeavors,  by  constant,  perse- 
vering, daily-repealed  efforts,  to 
relax  all  the  bonds  of  obedience 
and  subordination  ;  to  weaken  all 
the  springs  of  public  authority  ;  to 
degrade  and  debase  it  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  People ;  to  create 
against  it  everywhere  embarrass- 
ment and  resistance.  Its  art  con- 
sists not  in  substituting  for  a  too 
easy  submission  of  mind,  a  prudent 
liberty  of  examination,  but  in  redu- 
cing to  a  problem  the  most  posi- 
tive truths.  Not  in  exciting  upon 
political  questions  frank  and  useful 
controversy,  but  in  placing  them 
in  a  false  light,  and  solving  them 
by  sophisms.  The  Press  has  thus 
excited  confusion  in  the  most  up- 
right minds,  has  shaken  the  most 
firm  convictions,  and  produced  in 
the  midst  of  society  a  confusion  of 
principles,  which  lends  itself  to  the 
most  fatal  attempts.  It  is  by  an- 
archy in  doctrines,  that  it  paves 
the  way  for  anarchy  in  the  State.' 
Such  is  the  view  taken  of  the 
character  of  Jovrnalisme  hy  the 
Ministers ;  and  it  is  evidently  a  false 
one  ;  for  it  is  nothing  but  the  case 
made  out  in  all  ages  by  the  few, 
who  have  violently  possessed 
themselves  of  undue  power,  in 
opposition  to  the  many,  who  are 
continually  seeking,  by  peaceable 
means  if  they  can,  by  forcible  if 
they  must,  to  restore  the  equality 
of  political  rights,  which  the  God  of 
Nature  and  of  Christianity  bestow- 
ed on  the  human  race. 

In  fact,  it  is  not  so  much  the 
periodical  Press,  as  it  is  the  art  of 
printing,  or  rather  the  faculty  of 
thinking  and  writing,  whose  use- 


fulness the  French  Ministers  would 
thus  impugn.  Tyranny  and  big- 
otry have  always  had  their  p;rudge 
against  the  press ;  and  MM.  de 
Polignac,  Montbel,  and  their  as- 
sociates, were  not  singular  in  their 
unfavorable  estimate  of  its  tenden- 
cy, as  an  agent  to  spread  abroad 
the  impressions,  operations  and  re- 
sults of  mind.  We  should  be 
departing  from  our  present  pur- 
pose to  argue  the  various  ques- 
tions growing  out  of  this  subject ; 
and  to  argue  the  general  question 
in  the  United  Slates,  would  be  as 
idle  a  task  as  to  inquire  whether 
Washington  was  a  great  man, 
Franklin  a  wise  man,  or  Arnold  a 
bad  man.  America  settled  all 
those  points,  to  her  own  satis- 
faction at  least,  if  not  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  monarchs  and  their 
ministers  in  Europe,  soon  after  the 
year  1776.  We  confine  our- 
selves, therefore,  to  the  remarks 
necessary  to  disposing  of  this 
matter  as  an  important  fact  in  the 
late  affairs  of  France. 

M.  de  Polignac's  position  is  that 
'  at  all  times  the  periodical  Press 
has  been,  and  it  is  in  its  nature 
to  be,  only  an  instrument  of  disor- 
der and  sedition,'  and  this  we  say 
is  entirely  false.  Was  the  period- 
ical Press  '  only  an  instrument  of 
sedition'  under  the  paternal  guid- 
ance of  the  censure  in  the  reign  of 
Louis  XVIII.?  Was  it  only  an 
*  instrument  of  sedition'  in  the  reign 
of  Napoleon,  when  it  very  judi- 
ciously ^and  complaisanily  uttered 
what  he  directed,  and  loyally  sup- 
ported the  most  legitimate  of  Em- 
perors, him,  who  carved  out  his 
own  empire  with  his  own  good 
sword,  instead  of  deriving  it  from 
the  accident  of  parentage,  or  by 


FRANCE.  '  269 


transmission  through  tha  vulgar 
channel  of  birth  ?  Is  the  Gaceta 
de  Madrid  or  the  Austrian  Ob- 
server '  only  an  instrument  of 
sedition'  ?  VVe  fancy  that  all  the 
sedition  which  these  pliant '  in- 
struments' of  power  excite,  arises 
out  of  the  disgust  and  recoil  which 
their  subserviency  awakens  in  the 
breasts  of  the  friends  of  justice 
and  liberty.  Nay,  to  come 
directly  to  the  very  case  itself, 
was  ha  Quotidienne  '  only  an 
instrument  of  sedition'  ?  Was  Le 
Drapeau  Blanch  Was  UOri- 
jlamme  ?  If  either  of  these  jour- 
nals furthered  the  cause  of' anar- 
chy,' or  served  as  a  '  focus  of 
corruption,'  it  certainly  was  no 
want  of  good  will  to  the  descend- 
ants of  Saint  Louis,  or  of  zeal  in 
support  of  the  '  divine  right'  of 
kings,  which  subjected  them  to 
such  ungrateful  reproof  at  the 
hands  of  Charles  Dix. 

M.  dePolignac's  primary  error, 
therefore,  consists  in  attributing 
to  the  whole  periodical  Press  that 
character  which  could  only  be 
pretended,  upon  his  own  premises, 
of  that  portion  of  it  which  profes- 
sedly acted  in  defence  of  the 
Charter.  If  the  newspapers,  on 
that  side  of  the  question,  were 
comparatively  speaking  so  numer- 
ous, so  able,  and  so  influential,  as 
to  constitute  a  new  power  in  the 
State,  it  was  either  the  fault  of 
the  Ministers  or  the  fault  of  their 
cause.  If  their  cause  was  that  of 
truth  and  reason,  why  did  they 
not  make  it  appear?  If  their 
cause  was  that  of  the  national 
good,  why  did  they  not  carry 
with  them  the  feelings  of  the 
Nation  ?  They  understood  well 
the  Lord  Keeper  North's  pan- 


acea for  counteracting  the  poison- 
ous effects  of  political  libels  against 
the  Government,  and  they  admin- 
istered the  medicine,  it  seems,  in 
very  liberal  doses.  Having  the 
means  of  diverting  unaccounted 
millions  from  the  pockets  of  the 
People  into  those  of  such  skilful 
controversialists  of  their  party  as 
stood  ready  to  fight  the  ministerial 
battles,  if  they  accomplished  noth- 
ing it  must  have  been  because 
their  cause  was  a  bad  one,  since 
the  vantage  ground  was  theirs,  and 
they  were  contending  not  for  hon- 
or merely  or  abstract  principles, 
but  for  their  very  existence.  As 
to  the  influence  of  Journalisme, 
therefore,  in  promoting  the  Revo- 
lution of  the  Three  Days,  the 
plain  unvarnished  fact  is  this  :  — 
The  liberal  journals  supported  the 
interests  of  the  Nation,  while  the 
ministerial  journals  were  doomed 
to  the  laborious  and  ungrateful 
task  of  supporting  the  adverse  in- 
terests'de  deux  vieillards  etd'un 
enfant,'  with  their  dependants, 
who  had  been  forced  upon  France 
by  the  bayonets  of  her  confeder- 
ate enemies.  The  Bourbons, 
'  the  two  old  gentlemen  and  one 
child,'  constituted  one  party,  and 
France  constituted  the  other. 
Of  course,  notwithstanding  all  the 
immediate  power  possessed  by 
the  King,  as  the  fountain  of  hon- 
ors, the  dispenser  of  rank  and  of- 
fice, the  head  of  the  army  of 
troops  and  army  of  employes,  and 
master  of  the  public  revenues,  — 
notwithstanding  all  this,  when 
the  question  came  to  be,  who 
should  reason  best,  who  should 
write  best,  who  should  conduct  a 
newspaper  best,  the  King  or 
the  Nation,  it  was  easy  to  fore- 


270 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


see  that  all  the  ripe,  spontaneous, 
independent,  patriotic  talent  of 
France  would  speedily  be  con- 
centrated into  the  new  power  of 
Journalisme. 

The  remaining  subject  of  hor- 
ror, which  so  disturbed  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  government  was 
invisible  in  itself,  however  sensi- 
ble it  may  have  been  in  its  effects. 
We  allude  to  the  alleged  Comiie 
Directeur,  a  supposed  pemanent 
body,  stated  to  have  its  head 
quarters  at  Paris,  and  to  have  for 
its  object,  to  give  organization, 
system,  and  consequentefficacy, 
to  the  efforts  and  members  of  the 
constitutional  party.  What  the 
fact  may  be  in  regard  to  any  such 
secret  '  Committee  of  Safety'  is 
unknown  to  us  ;  but  we  must  say 
that  it  would  be  strange  if  such 
a  body  had  not  existed,  con- 
sidering the  stormy  aspect  of 
public  affairs.  Here  was  a  ma- 
tured plain,  it  was  believed,  on  the 
part  of  the  King,  to  endeavor,  by 
means  of  his  Ministers,  to  over- 
throw the  Charter.  The  Minis- 
ters were  the  King's  permanent 
Comite  Directeur  to  revolutionize 
France  in  the  interests  of  despo- 
tism. What  more  natural  and 
reasonable  than  that  the  people 
should  have  their  Comite  Direc- 
teur to  sustain  the  constitution  of 
government  as  it  was,  or  even  to 
revolutionize  France  in  the  inter- 
ests of  liberty All  the  advan- 
tages were  certainly  on  the  side 
of  the  King's  Comite  Directeur. 
They  had  the  physical  force  of  a 
large  standing  army  and  all  the 
apparatus  of  war  at  command  : 
their  antagonists  had  nothing  to 
meet  it  but  moral  courage  and 
brave  hearts  to  abide  the  issue.  — 


The  people  unfortunately  had  to 
provide  funds  for  both  sides.  For 
we  may  be  sure  that  neither 
Charles  nor  M.  de  Polignac  pro- 
vided, out  of  their  own  private 
resources,  the  budget  often  hun- 
dred millions  of  francs,  which 
they  had  both  power  and  will  to 
employ  in  furtherance  of  their 
schemes  of  usurpation  ;  and  we 
may  be  equally  sure,  if  MM.  La 
Fayette,  Lafitte,  and  their  friends 
expended  any  money  in  the  es- 
tablishment and  support  of  jour- 
nals, in  defraying  the  cost  of  de- 
fending against  political  prosecu- 
tions, or  otherwise,  that  neither 
was  this  money  derived  from  the 
private  patrimony  of  M.  de  Polig- 
nac or  Charles.  We  do  not  sup- 
pose that  such  a  desperate  moral 
contest,  as  was  carried  on  by  the 
national  party  in  France,  from 
August  of  1829  to  July  of  1830, 
was  conducted  without  some  de- 
gree of  concert  among  their  trust- 
ed leaders,  or  a  certain  quantity 
of  revolutionary  rent  to  meet  the 
unavoidable  expenditures  of  such 
a  crisis.  And  we  know,  from 
authentic  documents,  now  before 
the  world,  that  the  Ministers  were 
combined  in  an  illegal  purpose, 
and  profusely  employed  the  pub- 
lic money  in  promoting  it.  Nay, 
if  the  liberals  had  a  secret  Comite 
Directeur  to  manage  their  affairs, 
was  there  not  a  secret  Camarilla 
behind  the  throne,  an  irresponsi- 
ble cabinet,  equally  unknown  to 
the  Charter  with  the  Comite,  and 
at  least  equally  dangerous  to  the 
State } 

And  this  inquiry  brings  us  to 
the  other  mysterious  power,  whose 
operations  were  too  sensibly  felt, 
and  which  constituted  the  subject 


FRANCE. 


271 


of  horror  to  the  friends  of  the 
Charter,  namely,  the  Jesuits,  and 
the  Congregation  or  affiliated  dis- 
ciples of  ihe  parii  pretrey  having 
ample  scope  for  intrigue  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Court  or  personal 
associates  of  the  Sovereign.  It 
was  well  remarked,  on  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Polignac  Minis- 
try, that  it  could  not  stand  ;  for 
the  Ministers  are  alone,  it  was 
said  ;  nothing  sustains  them  but 
the  clergy  and  the  Ultras  ;  and  in 
France  there  are  but  forty  thou- 
sand priests  and  a  hundred  thou- 
sand Ultras,  to  withstand  thirtyone 
millions  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  constitutionalists.  But 
in  admitting  the  truth  of  this  re- 
mark, we  must  consider  the  great- 
er means  of  direct  influence 
possessed  by  a  Camarilla  of 
Clergy  and  Courtiers  behind  the 
throne,  than  can  be  exerted  by  the 
well  wishing,  patriotic  individuals 
of  the  people  at  large. 

We  might  well  believe,  if  we 
did  not  know,  that  the  Court  of  an 
emigrant  devotee  like  Charles  X., 
a  man  in  his  dotage,  with  but  scant 
ren^ainsof  the  little  sense  he  ever 
was  blessed  with,  and  given  up  to 
ascetic  observances  and  the  chase, 
without  either  capacity  or  inclina- 
tion to  elevate  his  understanding 
to  the  level  of  the  times,  —  that 
in  such  a  Court  men  of  his  own 
temper,  character,  and  fortunes, 
would  be  the  favored  private  ad- 
visers of  his  conduct  and  keepers 
of  his  conscience,  whoever  might 
be  his  responsible  public  Minis- 
ters. The  lay  members  of  the 
Court,  of  course,  would  consist  of 
the  privileged  families  of  the  an- 
cien  regime^  accustomed  to  bask 
in  the  sunshine  of  royal  grace, 


and  to  feed  their  extravagance  out 
of  the  treasures  of  the  state;  sine- 
curists,  household  functionaries 
and  favorites,  the  retained  repre- 
sentatives of  those  courtiers  by 
profession,  who  had  ruined  the 
Bourbons  once,  and  were  now 
laboring  in  their  vocation  to  do  it 
again.  '  Habituated,'  says  a  live- 
ly French  writer,  '  to  contract 
debts,  to  spend  beyond  their  rev- 
enues, to  live  tranquil  in  presence 
of  a  great  mass  of  creditors,  who 
could  be  silenced  by  a  lettre  de 
cachet  if  occasion  required,  they 
did  not  now  relish  absolute  sub- 
mission to  legal  order.  No  longer 
to  find  an  odious  protection  in  the 
misapplication  of  the  laws  ;  to  be 
compelled  to  live  on  their  income, 
and  not  at  the  charge  of  the  traders 
or  the  royal  treasury ;  to  be  able 
now  to  devour  only  a  determinate 
quantity  of  the  civil  list,  and  no 
more,  for  the  Cour  des  Com'ptes 
stares  them  in  the  face  ;  to  be 
debarred  from  making  large  for- 
tunes by  means  of  favoritism  or 
the  mistresses  of  the  King  ;  to 
tolerate  a  free  Press,  which  un- 
ceasingly reproaches  the  exactions 
and  follies  of  those  in  power  ;  no 
longer  to  tyrannize  over  comedi- 
ans and  authors  :  — Such  are  the 
undying  tortures  which  perpetual- 
ly sting  the  gentry  of  the  Court. 
These  bloodsuckers  of  the  throne 
and  the  Nation  wish  for  the  whole, 
while  they  can  have  no  more 
than  their  appropriate  share  ;  and 
hence  they  are  sworn  enemies  of 
the  Charter,  because  it  is  the 
Charter  which  binds  them  down 
to  that  state  of  things,  '  in  which 
consists,  not  their  happiness,  but 
the  happiness  of  France.'  If  this 
picture  is  highly  colored,  it  un- 


272 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  — 30^ 


doubtedly  possesses  too  much 
triuh.  France  was  young  and 
new,  while  the  Court  was  old  and 
decrepit.  France  had  been  re- 
cently accustomed  to  nobles  by 
nature,  not  by  parentage ;  to 
courtiers  who  could  speak  of  their 
own  achievements,  not  of  their 
ancestors  in  the  middle  ages.  — 
The  Court  of  the  Restoration  had 
abundance  of  old  historical  names 
to  show,  but  France  had  forgotten 
them ;  the  illustrations  of  the 
Republic  and  the  Empire  we  e 
resplendent  with  contemporary  tri- 
umphs, which  had  efiaced  the 
expiring  glories  of  men,  who  held 
their  honors  by  virtue  of  the  deeds 
of  some  old  knight  of  yore,  who 
died  in  his  harness  four  hundred 
years  ago  in  a  petty  skirmish  un- 
der the  banners  of  Orleans  or 
Burgundy.  Who  now  thought  of 
Duras  or  Aumont,  or  cared  for 
Rohan  or  Polignac  ?  But  the 
name  of  Lannes  or  Ney,  of  Soult 
or  Massena,  was  like  the  voice  of 
a  trumpet  swelling  upon  the  ear 
from  the  distant  hills.  It  spoke 
to  every  soul  in  France  of  strick- 
en fields,  of  victories  achieved,  of 
glories  ineffaceable,  of  imperial 
splendors  ;  of  all  that  could  mad- 
den the  fancy  and  dwell  in  daz- 
zling brilliancy  before  the  mind's 
eye  forevgr.  Is  it  wonderful, 
then,  if  the  Court  which  surround- 
ed Charles  and  Louis  Antoine 
was  litde  respected  by  the  Peo- 
ple, and  gained  no  confidence  fi-om 
them  ;  or  if  this  Court,  with  the 
sympathies  it  possessed  and  the 
position  in  the  public  estimation  it 
occupied,  should  have  given  oc- 
casion to  make  itself  considered, 
in  its  general  influence,  hostile  to 
the  Charter.^ 


The  People  entertained,  at  this 
period,  sill  greater  distrust  of  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuits.  They 
saw  the  Congregation  extending 
its  ramifications  through  all  the 
provinces,  receiving  many  acces- 
sions from  superstition,  but  more 
from  policy  and  aspiring  motives, 
and  especially  potent  in  the  region 
of  the  Palace  itself.  They  had 
struggled  hard  to  procure  even 
the  nominal  enforcement  of  the 
laws  against  the  Jesuits,  and  with 
little  effect.  France  believed 
that,  if  this  intriguing  and  ambi- 
tious order  of  priests  had  sway, 
although  they  conspired  with  the 
King  and  the  aristocracy  to  en- 
slave the  people  today,  they  would, 
when  they  had  advanced  thus  far, 
conspire  with  the  lowest  of  the 
People  to  enslave  the  King  tomor- 
row ;  and  that  they  labored  the 
triumph  of  absolution  only  in  or- 
der afterwards  to  build  up  an  in- 
quisition by  its  means.  In  a  coun- 
tiy  like  France,  where  genuine 
and  rational  religion  had  unfortu- 
nately lost  so  much  of  its  author- 
ity, it  was  not  to  be  presumed  that 
any  forbearance  would  be  felt  for 
designing  hypocrisy  which  assum- 
ed its  garb,  or  ambitious  Jesuitry, 
seeking  temporal  power  through 
the  permission  of  its  forms. 

We  have  deemed  it  proper  and 
useful,  as  well  as  consistent  with 
the  nature  of  our  work,  to  enter 
into  these  considerations,  although 
in  part  somewhat  argumentative 
in  their  nature,  because  they 
present  a  view  of  the  facts,  which, 
as  we  go  along,  will  be  found 
gradually  to  unfold  the  causes  of 
the  Revolution  of  the  Three  Days. 
We  proceed,  therefore,  to  explain 
the  state  of  the  great  question  at 


FRANCE. 


273 


issue  between  the  two  parties,  as 
presented  to  us  in  the  journals 
and  elsewhere,  during  the  period 
anterior  to  the  convocation  of  the 
Chambers. 

From  the  very  instant  of  the 
announcement  in  the  Moniteur  of 
the  appointment  of  M.  de  Polig- 
nac  and  his  associates,  a  never 
ceasing  war  of  obloquy  had  been 
carried  on  by  the  writers  in  the 
interest  of  the  Opposition.  The 
liberal  party  did  not  pretend  that 
any  unconstitutional  measures  had 
been  adopted  by  the  Ministers, 
but  took  a  stand  against  their  sup- 
posed intentions,  as  inferred  from 
various  circumstances.  Of  this 
course  the  Ministers  complained, 
as  being  factious  and  unjust. 
Wait,  said  they,  until  we  violate 
the  Charter,  or  manifest  some  dis- 
position to  do  it,  before  you  treat 
us  as  miscreants  and  traitors.  The 
King  has  exercised  his  constitu- 
tional prerogative  in  selecting  us 
to  be  his  responsible  advisers ;  it 
will  be  time  enough  to  denounce 
our  character  and  conduct  as 
Ministers,  when  as  Ministers  we 
deserve  reproach  by  the  commis- 
sion of  illegal  acts.  To  this  the 
liberal  party  replied  :  —  We  know 
that  your  purposes  are  bad,  and 
we  can  hope  to  prevent  their  ac- 
complishment only  by  anticipating 
your  design,  and  preparing  the 
Nation  to  meet  the  possible  contin- 
gency ;  and  until  you  leave  the 
Ministry,  and  men  of  other  princi- 
ples are  appointed  in  their  place, 
we  shall  not  cease  to  sound  the 
tocsin  of  alarm  and  proclaim 
our  distrust  of  the  Government. 
Which  side  was  justified  by  the 
facts  ? 

When  we  consider  what  the 
24 


Ministers  actually  did  in  July, 
1830,  and  recollect  how  truly  the 
liberal  party  anticipated  their  de- 
sign eleven  months  before,  it 
would  seem  that  some  obscure 
intimation  of  that  purpose  had  es- 
caped from  those,  who  were  at  the 
bottom  of  the  plot  against  the 
Charter.  It  may  be,  however, 
that,  from  discussions  among  the 
courtiers  of  what  was  feasible  or 
expedient,  men  acquainted  with 
the  feelings  of  the  King  could  form 
a  pretty  safe  conjecture  as  to  what 
the  Ministers  would  attempt.  A 
blow  at  the  liberty  of  the  Press  was 
at  any  rate  to  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected, altliough  not  in  what  pre- 
cise manner  and  titne  it  would 
be  struck.  Intentions  to  alter  the 
composition  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  by  ordinance,  and  to 
remodel  the  electoral  system  in  the 
same  way,  were  confidently  impu- 
ted, as  steps  to  be  taken  prepara- 
tory to  gradually  doing  away  with 
all  those  provisions  of  the  Charter, 
which  abridged  the  power  of  the 
Crown.  Such  were  the  designs 
attributed  to  the  Ministers,  and 
of  which  the  People  were  called 
upon  to  beware. 

But  on  what  ground,  it  will  be 
asked,  did  the  liberals  pretend  to 
believe  that  the  Charter  was  in 
danger?  We  answer,  that  the 
known  character,  the  avowed  poli- 
tics of  the  Ministers,  and  the  fact 
of  their  being  in  office,  were  suf- 
ficient to  convict  the  King  and  the 
Dauphin  of  meditating  a  violation 
of  the  Charter.  M.  de  Martignac 
and  his  colleagues  were  royalists 
they  were  no  revolutionary  zealots 
neither  democrats  nor  Bonapart- 
ists.  Why  were  they  thrust  out  of 
office,  unless  because  they  were 


274 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


considered  too  moderate,  too  tem- 
porizing, too  conscientiously  at- 
tached to  the  Charter?  No  other 
plausible  reason  could  be  or  was 
alleged.  Again,  when  the  Mar- 
tignac  Ministry  was  displaced, 
why  were  Polignac,  and  Bour- 
mont,  and  La  Bourdonnaye  plac- 
ed at  the  head  of  affairs,  unless 
because  they  were  ultra  in  their 
principles,  and  prepared,  from 
rashness  or  ignorance,  to  go  fur- 
ther in  the  cause  of  absolutism 
than  M.  de  Martignac  could  be  in- 
duced to  proceed  ?  No  other  plau- 
sible reason  could  be  or  was  al- 
leged. These  Ministers  are  not  to 
be  considered  as  new  men,  of  un- 
tried opinions,  whose  future  acts 
could  be  left  to  develope  their  prin- 
ciples, so  that  thus  they  might  be 
judged.  It  would  have  been  as 
easy  to  suspect  the  Duchesse  d'An- 
gouleme  of  republican  tendencies, 
as  M.  de  Polignac  or  M.  de  la 
Bourdonnaye  of  affection  for  the 
Charter.  Long  since  they  had  not 
only  hoisted  their  colors,  but  nail- 
ed them  to  the  mast.  M.  de  Po- 
li2;nac  was  the  reputed  son  of 
Charles  X.,  in  the  same  way  that 
Richard  become  the  father  of 
Faulconbridge  ;  and  he  arrived 
at  the  Premiership,  not  as  M.  de 
Villele  did,  by  force  of  talents,  by 
parliamentary  address  and  influ- 
ence, by  capacity  for  conducting 
public  r.ffairs,  but  as  De  Luynes 
or  Cinq-Mars  obtained  the  helm 
under  Louis  XIH.,  or  Robert 
Carre  under  James  I.,  through  the 
by-paths  of  personal  favoritism.  It 
was  undeniable  that  whatever  the 
King's  Camarilla  vixWed^  Polignac 
would  will,  because  it  could  only 
be  to  represent  them,  and  to  act 
fcr  Charles  as  an  individual,  not 
as  the  Sovereign  of  a  great  Nation, 


that  he  was  made  Premier.  M. 
de  La  Bournonnaye  was  the  furi- 
ous orator  of  ultra  ultraism  ;  the 
extreme  of  the  extreme  gauche. 
M.  de  Bourmont  was,  in  his  po- 
litical fortunes  indissolubly  iden- 
tified with  the  Bourbons  as  a  fami- 
ly, ever  since  that  act  of  treache- 
ry, which  gained  him  the  indigna- 
tion of  all  France.  It  was  enough 
for  the  liberals,  then,  to  see  such 
men  in  the  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment. This  fact  alone  was  deci- 
sive of  the  question  ;  for  how  did 
they  come  into  office,  but  in  or- 
der to  sustain  the  counter  revolu- 
tion, the  Jesuits  and  absolutism  ? 

Unfortunately  for  M.  de  Po- 
lignac, he  was  open  to  the  imputa- 
tion of  being  subservient  to  the 
views  of  England  ;  an  alleged  sub- 
serviency, which,  real  or  imagina- 
ry, was  a  very  efficacious  ground 
of  reproach,  in  consequence  of 
the  excessive  sensitiveness  of  the 
French  People  on  this  subject. 
His  wife  was  English,  his  fortune 
was  in  England,  his  children  were 
brought  up  in  England,  he  pro- 
fessedly admired  the  English 
Constitution  as  the  exemplar  of  a 
perfect  Government,  and  he  was 
a  personal  friend  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  having  long  resided  in 
England  in  the  capacity  of  am- 
bassador of  King  Charles.  These 
circumstances  were  sufficient  to 
countenance  the  imputation,  and 
to  enable  the  liberals  to  employ 
it  as  the  means  of  augmenting  his 
unpopularity ;  but  it  proved,  in 
the  sequel,  that  he  paid  but  too 
litile  heed  to  the  warnings  of 
Wellington  against  attempting  a 
coup  d'etat. 

It  is  one  ol  the  extraordinary 
features  of  the  period  that  the 
Q^uotidienne,  and  the  few  other  pa 


FRANCE. 


275 


pers  which  supported  the  Minis- 
ters, performed  their  duty  with  a 
feeble  and  timid  spirit,  which  was 
oddly  contrasted  with  their  affect- 
ed scorn  of  the  liberal  party,  and 
ihe  blustering  tone  of  assumed  de- 
fiance and  reproach  which  mark- 
ed the  effusions.  They  were 
very  liberal  and  profuse  of  the 
terms  jacobin,  revolutionnaires, 
enemies  of  the  King,  and  the  like  ; 
but  they  made  a  wofully  lame 
apology  for  the  characters  and 
known  principles  of  the  Ministers  ; 
and  by  the  course  of  argument 
they  pursued,  as  to  the  question 
whether  a  violation  of  the  Charter 
was  contemplated,  they  by  no 
means  tended  to  allay  the  public 
ferment  and  agitation.  Among  the 
documents,  which  have  come  to 
light  since  the  Three  Days,  are 
some  which  explain  this  seeming 
mystery.  It  is  demonstrated  that 
the  King  and  his  back-stair  Cabi- 
net were  determined  to  expunge 
the  Revolution,  —  so  to  speak,  to 
carry  France  back  to  the  good  old 
days,  when  instead  of  an  elective 
Chamber  was  a  convenient  Coun- 
cil of  State  ;  when  the  Ministers 
were  responsible  to  nobody  but 
the  King,  and  the  King  was  re- 
sponsible to  nobody  but  his  public 
harlot,  some  shameless  Madame 
de  Pompadour  or  Madame  du 
Barry  ;  and  when,  so  long  as  the 
hereditary  head  of  the  Slate  had 
a  Parc-aux-  Cerfs  to  repair  to  for 
his  amusement,  and  so  long  as 
the  noblesse  about  the  Court  had 
free  access  to  the  Treasury,  it 
mattered  little  what  became  of 
the  taxpaying  pa?/5a7?5  and  bour- 
geois of  France. 

It  seems  that  when  La  Bourdon- 
nay  e  gave  place  in  November  to 


M.  Guernon  de  Ranville,  this 
gentleman,  in  entering  the  Cabinet 
felt  bound  to  file  a  sort  of  protest 
against  their  proceedings  in  their 
intention  to  nullify  the  Charter. 
*  Tlie  project,'  he  says,  '  which 
some  imprudent  royalists  would 
wish  to  push  the  Government  to 
adopt,  would  consist  in  dissolving 
the  Chambers  and  convoking  a 
new  one,  after  having  modi  itd 
by  ordinance  the  electoral  law, 
and  suspended  the  freedom  of  the 
Press  by  re-establishing  the  cen- 
sorship. I  know  not  if  this  would 
save  the  Monarchy  ;  but  it  would 
be  a  coup  etat  of  extreme  vio- 
lence. It  would  be  a  violation  of 
the  thirtyfifth  article  of  the  Char- 
ter ;  that  iS;  a  violation  of  the  oath 
taken  to  maintain  it.  Siach  a  step 
would  never  become  the  King  nor 
conscientious  Ministers.'  Unhap- 
pily for  the  Bourbons  the  ingenu- 
ous advice  of  this  their  devoted 
servant,  a  man  of  unsuspected  at- 
tachment to  their  dynasty,  was 
not  favorably  entertained  ;  and 
the  Minister  himself  was  after- 
wards reasoned  out  of  his  own 
better  judgment,  and  driven  into 
a  participation  in  the  violent  cow^ 
d'etat,  which  ruined  the  Monarchy 
and  himself. 

Other  advisers  were  at  work, 
whose  counsels  were  more  palata- 
ble to  the  dotard  on  the  throne, 
than  those  of  the  clear  sighted  M. 
Guernon  de  Ranville  ;  as  plainly 
appears  fi  om  the  language  of  a 
memorial  communicated  to  the 
Dauphin  by  some  irrespons  ble 
foe  to  the  liberties  of  his  country. 
'  A  Sovereign,'  says  the  memorial, 
'  may  make  coups  d'etat  for  the 
good  of  his  subjects.  They  will 
almost  always  succeed,  if  he  shows 


276 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  they  are  for  the  benefit  of 
great  proprietors  and  the  arn)y, 
provided  j'orce  and  secrecy  are  em- 
ployed in  their  eocecution,  and 
prompt  justice  is  executed  on 
the  factious.  Bayonets  support 
thrones.  The  soldier  belongs  to 
him  who  pays  hinn.  The  party 
of  the  liberals  is  without  a  chief. 
That  the  people  or  the  troops 
should  revolt,  they  must  find  or 
hope  for  safety  and  guarantees. 
It  is  not  a  few  groups  of  students, 
easy  to  be  dispersed  by  a  few 
shots  or  a  few  charges  of  cavalry, 
that  will  give  those  guarantees.' 
Here  are  precious  maxims  for  a 
constitutional  King.  The  great 
proprietors,  that  is,  the  oligarchy 
about  the  throne,  are  to  be  flatter- 
ed and  conciliated  with  the  prom- 
ise of  power,  and  the  army  is  to 
be  corrupted  by  largesses,  and 
then  all  will  go  well :  for  thrones 
are  supported  by  *  bayonets,'  not 
by  the  affection  of  the  People. 
This  rule  of  governing,  to  be  sure, 
may  not  prove  palatable  to  the 
millions  who  pay  and  suffer  ;  but 
no  matter ;  they  are  unarmed  ; 
they  are  base  fellahs,  born  to  till 
the  ground,  to  discharge  imposts, 
to  beget  slaves,  and  to  die  ;  and  if 
they  speak  of  their  chartered 
rights,  the  bayonet,  the  sabre,  and 
the  guillotine  will  reduce  them 
to  silence  and  submission.  We 
thank  God  that  '  the  people,  and 
'  the  troops'  and  a  few  groups  of 
students,'  of  whom  this  memorial- 
ist speaks  so  contemptuously,  gave 
a  lesson  to  crowned  heads  on  '  the 
i9ih  of  July,'  which  will  be  re- 
membered by  the  servile  instru- 
ments of  oppression  in  Europe,  so 
long  as  a  King  cumbers  the  earth. 
But  the  memorialist  proceeds 


in  an  equally  significant  strain. 
'  Strike,'  says  he,  '  strike  with  a 
firm  hand  the  institutions  which 
owe  their  birth  to  the  Revolution, 
and  by  whicli  it  is  perpetuated.' 
That  is,  suppress  the  Charter  by 
force,  and  abolish  all  the  just  and 
equal  laws  of  the  last  forty  years  : 
and  he  might  as  well  have  added, 
demolish  half  Paris  and  waste 
France  with  fire  and  sword  ;  for 
it  is  the  splendid  monuments  of 
one  and  the  wide  spreading  pros- 
perity of  the  other,  qui  perpetuent 
la  revolution.  '  The  national  rep- 
resentation is  contrary  to  the  2;e- 
nios,  the  manners  and  the  charac- 
ter of  a  Nation  frivolous  and  tur- 
bulent like  ours.  With  fifty  thou- 
sand advocates,  the  same  num- 
ber of  attorneys  and  clerks,  and 
such  a  host  of  physicians  and  sur- 
geons imbued  with  revolutionary 
principles,  the  representative  form 
of  government,  resulting  from  tl  e 
Charter,  is  a  continual  struggle 
of  parties,  which  engenders  dis- 
order, divides  the  country,  and 
enfeebles  the  State.  There  is  a 
repugnance,  a  natural  antipathy 
between  France  and  the  represen- 
tative system.  The  Monarchy 
requires,  in  order  to  be  firm  and 
preponderating  without,  as  well  as 
within,  a  Supreme  Council,  not 
two  rival  Chambers.  The  no- 
blesse has  incontestable  rights  to 
the  administration  of  the  State ; 
and  the  clergy  can  no  longer  re- 
main a  stranger  to  the  government 
of  France.'  It  is  impossible,  in 
our  apprehension,  to  conceive  of 
principles  more  wretched,  coun- 
sels more  infatuated,  or  ignorance 
more  profound,  than  these  pas- 
sages betray.  We  undertake  not 
to  justify  or  extenuate  the  horrors 


FRANCE. 


277 


and  excesses  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution ;  but  we  must  say  that  so 
long  as  Kings  maintain  that  no 
faith  is  to  be  kept  with  their  sub- 
jects and  no  oaths  are  binding  in 
their  favor,  and  that  their  fellow 
men  are  of  no  farther  considera- 
tion but  to  be  '  tailles  et  corves  a 
la  misericorde,'  for  the  benefit  of 
a  few  idle  and  profligate  courtiers, 
—  we  cannot  discipline  our  re- 
publican feelings  into  a  state  of 
very  extreme  sorrow  that  a  terri- 
ble lesson  of  retributive  and  recip- 
rocal justice  should  occasionally 
be  visited  on  such  implacable  ene- 
mies of  the  whole  human  race. 

Having  thus  seen  what  was  the 
nature  of  the  apprehensions  en- 
tertained by  the  constitutional 
party,  and  how  much  cause  there 
was  for  such  apprehensions,  we 
have  but  one  more  subject  to  ad- 
vert to,  before  proceeding  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Chambers.  We 
mean,  the  probable  issue  of  a  de- 
cisive struggle.  All  that  the  liber- 
als asked,  and  all  that  they  profess- 
ed to  desire,  was  the  conservation 
ofthe  Charter  and  the  appointment 
of  a  National  Ministry.  Yet  it  is 
undeniable  that,  so  early  as  the 
close  of  1829,  very  just  calcula- 
tions could  be  made  regarding  the 
probable  event,  if  the  King  should 
tamper  with  the  Charter  and  fail. 
Many  hoped  and  desired  that  he 
would  attempt  a  coup  d^etat,  in 
the  anticipation  of  its  resulting  in 
the  gratification  of  their  peculiar 
feelings  and  wishes.  But  even 
those,  who  believed  in  the  expedi- 
ency and  success  of  a  coup  d^etat 
as  a  royalist  measure,  could  not 
fail  to  reflect  on  iis  possible  failure, 
and  to  look  to  what  would  be  the 
consequence.  The  analogy,  thus 
24* 


far,  strikingly  perfect,  between  the 
history  of  the  three  last  Stuarts  in 
England,  and  the  three  last  Bour- 
bons in  France,  was  continually 
followed  out  in  private  conversa- 
tion to  its  final  catastrophe,  and 
not  seldom  alluded  to  in  the  news- 
papers, especialy  those  of  Great 
Britain.  We  feel  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  the  mere  contem- 
plation of  this  analogy  had  great 
influence  in  familiarizingthe  minds 
of  men  to  the  idea  of  the  Due 
d'Orleans  as  a  kind  of  predestin- 
ed substitute  for  Charles  X.  We 
shall  not  here  anticipate  the  his- 
tory of  a  later  period,  by  under- 
taking to  develope  the  various 
circumstances  of  family  and  per- 
sonal popularity  and  public  con- 
venience which  subsequently  rais- 
ed Louis  Philippe  to  the  throne. 
We  speak  only  of  the  under  cur- 
rent of  public  sentiment,  the  pri- 
vately expressed  opinion,  the  half 
formed  fears  or  hopes,  which 
might  be  discerned  in  France 
late  in  1829,  and  before  any  ac- 
tual collision  had  taken  place  be- 
tween the  People  and  the  King 
personally. 

We  know  the  fact  to  be  that, 
at  the  period  in  question,  the 
Orleans  family  occupied  this 
singular  position,  in  the  supposi- 
tion of  an  impending  revolution  : 
They  were  the  first  choice  of  but 
few,  they  were  the  second  choice 
of  nearly  all.  The  Republicans 
regarded  the  succession  of  the 
Due  d'Orleans  as  the  next  best 
thing  to  the  establishment  of  a 
Republic ;  the  Bonapartists  ad- 
mitted that  it  would  be  next  best 
to  the  restoration  of  the  rights  of 
the  young  Napoleon  ;  and  the 
Bourbonists  felt  that  it  would  be 


278 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


next  best  to  the  coutinuance  in 
power  of  Charles  or  Louis  An- 
toiue,  or  young  Henri.  The 
Republicans  would  prefer  it,  now, 
10  the  reigning  family  or  to  the  son 
of  Marie  Louise  ;  the  Royalists  to 
Napoleon  or  a  Republic  ;  and  the 
Bonapartists  to  a  Republic  proba- 
bly, certainly  to  the  Bourbons, 
whose  thorough  adherents  formed 
a  very  small  fraction  of  the  Nation, 
and  that  fraction  neither  the  most 
intelligent  nor  the  most  influential. 
And  thus  Louis  Philippe,  while,  if 
he  relied  for  success  on  choice 
by  absolute  preference,  had  litde 
chance  of  reaching  the  throne, 
had  the  fairest  prospects  as  the 
choice  by  compromise  and  politi- 
cal necessity. 

Such  was  the  state  of  public 
affairs,  when  the  royal  ordinance 
appeared  on  the  7th  of  January, 
appointing  the  2d  of  March  ensu- 
ing for  the  assembling  of  the 
Chambers.  It  could  no  longer 
be  said  that  the  King  intended  to 
dissolve  the  Chambers,  and  thus 
save  the  Ministers  from  the  in- 
convenience of  meeting  the  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Nation.  The 
question  now  was,  what  the  Cham- 
bers would  do,  and  what  the 
Ministers,  in  case  the  Legislature 
should  go  so  far  as  to  insist  on  a 
change  of  Ministry  as  the  condi- 
tion of  a  vote  of  supplies.  Mean- 
while, after  six  months  of  inactive 
irresolution,  of  almost  absolute 
quiescence,  of  timid,  fearful 
movement  in  the  mere  vicious  cir- 
cles of  bureaucratic  formality,  the 
Ministers  had  really  ventured  to 
do  something,  to  take  a  step  in  of- 
fice of  some  kind.  As  to  the  in- 
ternal affairs  of  the  Kingdom  they 
liad  gone  so  far  as  to  conclude  to 


face  the  Chambers ;  and  they 
even  made  a  couple  of  moves  in 
relation  to  external  affairs. 

The  wise  rulers  of  Europe,  who 
had  crushed  the  power  of  the 
Sublime  Porte  by  mere  inadver- 
tence, and  called  into  being  a 
Republic  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  by  mistake,  were 
sorely  puzzled  to  decide  hov/  to 
retrace  their  steps  with  becoming 
solemnity  and  gravity,  so  as 
not  to  encounter  too  much  re- 
proval  from  an  injured  fellow- 
king,  nor  too  much  ridicule  from 
scoffing  and  irreverent  liberals. 
Among  other  ingenious  manceu- 
vres  to  this  affect,  they  were  now 
busy  in  selecting  some  unprovided 
member  of  the  royal  clique,  to  be 
imposed  upon  Greece,  with  as  litde 
consideration  for  the  wishes  of  the 
interested  parties,  a?  they  had  for- 
merly shown  in  subjecting  Genoa 
to  the  King  of  Sardinia,  Belgium 
to  William  of  Nassau,  or  France 
to  the  Bourbons.  The  fact  at 
length  became  known,  that  the 
choice  of  the  Allies  had  fallen 
upon  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe 
Coburg,  and  was  made  the  subject 
matter  of  most  vehement  declama- 
tion against  M.  de  Polignac,  in 
consequence  of  the  relation  Leo- 
pold stood  in  as  to  Great  Britain. 
All  that  had  been  said  at  first 
against  Polignac,  as  being  under 
English  influence,  as  being  the 
tool  of  Wellington,  and  so  forth, 
wasnow  renewed  with  tenfold  fury. 
What,  said  they  ;  did  the  French 
fii;ht  the  batde  of  Navarino,  did 
they  expend  their  blood  and 
treasure  in  driving  Ibrahim  from 
the  ]\lorea,  that  the  son-in-law  of 
George  IV^.,  uncle  and  nearest 
male  relation  of  the  Princess  Vic- 


FRANCE. 


279 


toria,  the  dependent  pensioner  of 
England,  should  be  King  of 
Greece  ?  It  seemed  to  their  ex- 
cited minds  incontrovertible  proof 
of  the  subservience  of  the  Prince 
de  Polignac  to  the  ambitious  views 
of  Great  Britain,  and  continued 
to  be  the  subject  of  angry  discus- 
sion, until  other  more  deeply  in- 
teresting topics  came  to  supply 
its  place. 

The  Ministers  had  now  begun 
in  earnest  to  set  about  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Dey  of  Algiers, 
with  whom  France  had  long  been 
at  issue,  without  taking  any  very 
decided  measures  to  bring  the 
controversy  to  a  close.  Had  they 
undertaken  the  expedition  in  good 
faith,  and  with  singleness  of  heart, 
solely  for  the  vindication  of  the 
honor  of  France,  it  might  have 
been  serviceable  to  the  reputation 
of  themselves  and  their  master.  — 
But  they  had  been  so  baited  by 
the  liberal  party,  that  they  could 
imdertake  nothing,  they  could 
think  of  nothing,  except  as  it  bore 
upon  the  question  of  their  minis- 
terial popularity,  and  the  success 
of  their  conspiracy  against  the 
Charter.  Therefore,  instead  of 
going  to  war  with  Algiers  in  order 
to  punish  a  violent  horde  of  pirates, 
as  England  had  done  not  long  be- 
fore ;  instead  of  going  to  war  in 
Africa  to  make  a  rich  and  valua- 
ble conquest,  as  England  was 
doing  every  few  years  in  Asia ; 
instead  of  pursuing  either  of  these 
objects,  M.  de  Polignac  entered 
upon  war  as  an  electioneering  ma- 
noeuvre, hoping  to  divert  public 
attention  from  his  domestic  plans 
by  giving  it  new  occupation  abroad 
and  to  strengthen  himself  in  the 
public  favor,  by  providing  food 


to  gratify  the  passion  for  military 
glory,  which  so  generally  prevails 
in  France.  But,  detecting  and 
exposing  his  purpose  with  their 
customary  readiness  and  address, 
the  liberal  party  converted  even 
this  far  fetched  scheme  of  popu- 
larity into  an  additional  ground  of 
public  condemnation  and  disgrace. 

Events  now  began  to  assume 
that  rapid  march,  which  had  been 
so  long  preparing  by  the  discus- 
sions and  agitations,  whereof  we 
have  thus  far  been  occupied  in 
giving  an  account.  The  Legisla- 
ture met  at  the  appointed  time  ; 
and  the  remarkable  part  it  per- 
formed may  warrant  some  details 
as  to  the  parties  which  composed 
it,  and  tlie  prominent  men  in  each 
party.  While  every  one  knew 
familiarly  the  general  division  of 
each  Chamber,  attentive  observ- 
ers could  go  further,  and  single 
out  fractions  of  the  several  great 
parties,  sometimes  ahnost  as  hos- 
tile to  each  other,  as  the  primary 
parties  themselves.  Beginning 
with  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  as 
the  popular  and  elective  branch, 
we  shall  then  add  a  few  words 
concerning  the  Chamber  of  Peers. 
Conspicuous  in  the  Chamber  as 
the  professed  friends  of  the  crown 
was  the  Contre-Opposition,  the 
administration  party,  that  is,  com- 
monly known  from  their  local 
position  as  the  Right.  In  this 
section  you  might  see  some,  who, 
independent  royalists,  having  come 
to  the  Chambers  with  sentiments 
rather  unfavorable  to  the  consti- 
tutional system,  had  learned  to 
admit  the  necessity  of  it  for  the 
safety  of  the  throne,  as  well  as  for 
the  tranquillity  of  France.  These 
men  formed  a  valuable  ingredient 


280 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


of  the  Chamber.     They  were 
constitutionalists  in   good  faith, 
always  inclining,  nevertheless,  to 
strengthen  the  royal  prerogative. 
They  spoke  a  constitutional  lan- 
guage, respected  the  Charter,  and 
had  resigned  themselves  to  follow 
its  forms,  without  seeking  to  in- 
fringe or  nullify  it.    In  the  same 
general  division  were  men,  who, 
feeling  as  if  the  great  question  still 
was  between   Royalty  and  the 
Revolution,  were  disposed  to  sus- 
tain the  Government  in  its  political 
weakness,  but  who,  guided  by 
conscientious  motives, stood  ready 
to  repulse  all  Jesuitical  influence, 
and  to  demand  economy  in  the 
public  expenditures  and  a  proper 
consideration  of  the  public  wel- 
fare.   There,  also,  it  is  certain, 
were  some  men  whose  whole  souls 
were  given  up  to  the  contre  revo- 
lution in  its  purity  and  simplicity, 
who  had  reproached  all  past  ad- 
ministrations for  not  rushing  fast 
enough  in  a  retrograde  career, 
who  hailed  with  joy  the  advent  of 
Ministers  after  their  own  heart, 
and  whose  only  fear  was  lest  a 
lingering  scruple  of  timidity  or  in- 
decision, should  so  check  the  lib- 
erticide  dispositions  of  M.  de  Po- 
Jignac,  as  to  save  the  Charter  yet 
a  litde  while.    And  associated 
with  these  last  were  son^ie  few 
fanatical  congreganistes,  urging 
the  Government  to  give  free  scope 
and  career  to  the  movements  of 
the  Jesuits.  Such  were  the  Con- 
tre-Opposition. 

From  the  very  commencement, 
a  large  third  of  the  Chamber  had 
consisted  of  the  old  and  constant 
friends  of  liberty,  headed  by  the 
men  who  had  ever  been  true  to 
France.    We  may  be  sure  their 


numbers  had  not  diminished  un- 
der   the   conceding  ministry  of 
Martignac,  nor  their  zeal  under 
the    non-conceding    ministry  of 
Polignac.  These  Deputies,  strong 
by  their  talents  still  more  than  by 
their  numbers,  might  be  regarded 
as  the  type  of  a  true  national  rep- 
resentation.   You  saw  there  the 
choice  spirits  of  France  ;  illustra- 
tions of  every  class ;  the  delega- 
tion of  the  genuine  interests  of  the 
Nation  ;  les  glories  of  the  army, 
of  science,  of  literature,  of  philos- 
ophy, of  the  bar;   the  eminent 
names  among  the  great  landhold- 
ers, the  capitalists,  and  the  manu- 
facturers ;   the  old  celehritys  of 
the  year  '89  and  the  new  one 
since  aggregated  to  their  noble 
phalanx.     Whatever  shades  of 
division  might  exist  among  these 
soldiers  of  the  Charter,  however 
they  might  individually  desire  to 
infuse  more  or  less  of  liberty  into 
the  institutions  of  their  country, 
they  were  fimly  united  in  one 
thing,  and  that  was,  determined 
hostility  to  the  Polignac  Ministry, 
their   measures,    principles  and 
intentions. 

Neutrality  and  moderation  in 
politics,  however  patriotic  the  mo- 
tive of  the  individual  professing 
these  qualities  may  be,  are  never 
held  in  high  favor  in  a  great  na- 
tional crisis.  Neutrality  is  apt  to 
be  considered  the  retreat  of  time- 
serving men,  who  have  not  inde- 
pendence enough  to  throw  them- 
selves frankly  into  the  ranks  of 
any  decided  party.  Unquestion- 
ably, however,  the  right  and  left 
Centres  of  the  Chamber  contain- 
ed many  worthy  men,  who  could 
not  be  accused  either  of  timidity 
or  of  calculation  in  assuming  a 


kind  of  intermediate  position  be- 
tween the  widely  sundered  ex- 
tremes of  the  Opposition  and  Con- 
tre-Opposition,  Besides, it  was 
but  a  few  years  since,  that,  of 
more  than  four  hundred  Deputies, 
only  thirty  were  found  to  vote 
against  the  Ministers  ;  and  now 
they  outnumbered  their  antago- 
nists, perhaps,  or  at  least  were 
likely  to  do  it  with  the  aid  of  the 
Centre. 

In  characterizing  the  smaller 
subdivisions  of  this  Chamber,  a 
spirited  author  has  said  that  the 
extreme  Right  consisted  of  the 
Jacobins  of  Royalty ;  the  Right, 
of  Royalists  somewhat  less  furious 
than  their  neighbors  ;  the  Right 
Centre,  of  Royalists  having  a  vi- 
olent inclination  to  be  reasonable  ; 
the  Left  Centre,  of  Royalist  who 
desired  a  varnish  of  constitution- 
ality over  the  solid  advantages  of 
ministerialism  ;  the  Left,  of  the 
sincere  friends  of  the  Charter  ; 
and  the  Extreme  Left,  of  the  Re- 
publicans, the  Radicals,  the  insa- 
tiable. 

La  Bourdonnaye,  who  had  just 
retired  from  office,  had  preten- 
sions to  be  considered  a  leader  of 
the  Extreme  Right,  these  pala- 
dins of  the  old  7iobIesse,  who  cer- 
tainly did  more  harm  than  good 
to  the  King  by  their  extravagance. 
What  party  could  be  strengthen- 
ed by  a  Duplessis-Grenedan,  who 
had  loudly  demanded  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  the  rack  and  other 
atrocious  barbarities  of  feudality, 
and  who  opposed  the  law  of  in- 
demnity because  it  did  not  wrench 
all  the  fragments  of  the  national 
domain  from  the  hands  of  inno- 
cent purchasers,  and  restore  the 
very  estates  themselves  to  the  old 


^CE.  281 

propi-ietors  ?  B)  a  La  Boesiere, 
who  deemed  it  a  breach  of  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  question  the 
propriety  of  anything  emanating 
from  the  Ministers  ?  By  a  Sala- 
berry,  to  whom  the  name  of  the 
Press  or  of  the  Charter,  was  as 
water  to  a  subject  of  the  hydro- 
phobia ?  And  if  others,  like  Cor- 
biere,  had  more  of  discretion,  tal- 
ent, or  knowledge  of  the  world, 
they  labored  under  a  load  of  un- 
popularity, which  rendered  them 
of  little  avail  in  the  present  crisis. 
The  Contre-opposition,  however, 
contained  men,  to  whom  it  is  im- 
possible to  deny  the  respect  due 
to  integrity  and  ability,  although 
associated  in  positions  with  men, 
who  were  blindly  hastening  on  a 
new  Revolution.  Martignac  and 
Hyde  de  Neuville,  independently 
of  their  numerous  other  claims  to 
consideration,  had  earned  a  new 
title  to  it  in  being  driven  from  the 
Ministry  to  make  room  for  the 
vowed  foes  of  the  Charter.  MM. 
de  Conny,  Delalot,  and  de  La- 
rochefoucauld  with  others  of  their 
class,  might  also  be  singled  out 
from  the  ranks  of  the  Right,  as 
uniting  great  personal  respecta- 
bility with  a  creed,  which  compri- 
sed the  Charter  and  the  King, 
the  Bourbons  and  France.  The 
Right  was  to  derive  what  aid  it 
might  from  the  Ministers  them- 
selves, at  least  from  such  among 
them  as  possessed  capacity  for  the 
business  of  a  deliberative  assem- 
bly ;  and  how  weak  they  had 
previously  been,  in  this  essential 
element  of  a  vigorous  Cabinet,  is 
rendered  apparent  by  their  calling 
Guernon  de  Ranville  from  a  pro- 
vincial bar  to  suceed  La  Bour- 
donnaye, on  account  of  the  rhetor- 


282  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


ical  powers  and  supposed  parlia- 
mentary talent  of  the  former  gen- 
tleman. 

How  differently  constituted  was 
the  Opposition  in  all  the  elements 
of  national  consideration  and  the 
means  of  exercising  popular  influ- 
ence !  Since  the  Three  Days 
their  names  have  become  familiar 
to  us  by  the  deeds  they  have  per- 
formed, or  the  speeches  they  have 
delivered,  in  the  cause  of  the 
Charter.  If  the  Left  contained 
fewer  of  the  old  aristocratical  fam- 
ilies, which  the  Restoration  had 
given  back  to  France,  it  was  rich 
in  everything  else,  and  in  that 
respect  even  was  not  deficient.  — 
If  the  La  Fayettes  and  the  La- 
rochefoucauld-Liancourts,  with 
genealogies  running  back  into  eras 
co-existent  with  the  conquests  of 
the  French,  were  not  numerous 
among  the  Opposition,  who, 
among  the  Contre- Opposition^ 
deserved  to  be  matched  with  the 
Royer  Collards;  the  Duponts,  the 
Periers,  the  Dupins  ?  Here  were 
Firmin  Didot,  Lefebvre,  Jars,  Ca- 
simir  Perier,  Lafitte,  Balguerie, 
Ternaux,  Laisne  de  Villevesque, 
who  brought  to  the  deliberations 
of  the  Chamber  a  practical  know- 
ledge of  the  commerce  and  manu- 
factures of  their  country,  worth 
all  the  sangre  azul  in  France  ; 
and  several  of  them  could  be  as 
eloquent  in  the  tribune,  as  they 
were  wise  and  well  informed  in 
the  committee  room.  Among  the 
great  pubhcists  and  eminent  mag- 


istrates were  Dupont  de  I'Eure, 
exhibiting  a  life  of  public  useful- 
ness and  exalted  public  virtues  in 
legislative  and  juridical  functions 
coeval  with  the  Revolution  ;  Me- 
chin,  a  contemporary  of  the  last 
in  tlie  length  of  his  public  services, 
and  distinguished  for  zeal  as  a 
debater  ;  Berenger,  a  publicist, 
whom  some  of  the  American  let- 
ter writers  have  absurdly  mistaken 
for  Beranger  the  poet  ;  Dupin 
and  Mauguin,  practising  advo- 
cates of  Paris,  equally  distinguish- 
ed al  the  Bar  and  in  the  Senate  ; 
and  Schonen,  a  counsc^llor  of  the 
Cour  Royale  of  Paris  of  the  high- 
est reputation  for  talents  and  pat- 
riotism. It  is  one  of  the  distinc- 
tions of  science  and  letters,  that 
they  diffuse  a  reputation  far  be- 
yond the  limits  of  ordinary  politi- 
cal notoriety ;  and  Royer-Collard, 
Etienne,  CharlesDupin,  Keratry, 
and  Benjamin  Constant,  had  more 
than  a  single  claim  to  be  known, 
whether  in  or  out  of  France.  — 
Nor  should  we  omit  to  mention 
the  virtuous  Labbey  de  Pom- 
pieres,  since  lost  to  his  country  by 
death  ;  or  Louis,  who  had  twice 
resigned  the  ministry  of  Finance 
rather  than  participate  in  acts  in- 
jurious to  his  country,  and  was 
now  a  steady  opponent  of  the 
Government,  or  Sebastiani  and 
Gerard,  the  former  so  well  known 
as  a  diplomatist,  and  both  as 
among  the  great  generals  of  the 
Empire  or  Laborde,  eminent 
as  an  author  and  a  politician,  and 


*  We  feel  tempted  to  extract  from  a  bioajraphical  work  l:)efore  us,  a  specimen  of 
wel  applied  humor  concerning  another  of  these  military  veterans.  The  Deputy, 
General  Adam  de  La  Pommeraye,  says  an  author,  is  one  of  those  brave  soldiers,  who 
are  not  ashamed  of  having  planted  the  French  colors  on  every  Cathedral  in  Europe. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Chambers  of  1820,  always  voting  with  the  Left.  One  day 
a  certain  Prefect  being  at  the  tribune,  where  he  spoke  rather  ungraciously  of  our  old 


FRANCE, 


283 


not  less  so  as  the  generous  dis- 
penser of  a  noble  fortune,  and  as 
a  spirited  public  benefactor. 

We  need  occupy  but  litlle  time 
in  speakin:^  of  the  Chamber  of 
Peers,  which  from  deliberating  in 
private,  attracted  less  of  general 
interest,  and  has  been  almost  pas- 
sive in  the  changes  of  the  Three 
Days.  It  contained  two  very  dis- 
tinct divisions,  one  of  which  would 
gladly  have  aided  M.  de  Polignac 
in  restoring  the  good  old  times, 
and  the  other  would  have  prefer- 
red to  let  things  remain  as  they 
were.  It  is  observable  that  neith- 
er did  all  the  ancient  nobles  be- 
long to  the  first  class,  nor  all  the 
novi  homines  to  the  latter,  but 
singular  mixtures  had  occurred  on 
both  sides.  Many  gentlemen 
of  name  and  arms  had  become 
reasonable  by  the  influence  of  re- 
flection and  experience.  Such 
were  MM.  the  Dues  de  Morte- 
mart,  de  La  Vauguyon,  de  Choi- 
seul,  de  Broglie,  de  Doudeau- 


ville,  the  Prince  de  Talleyrand, 
the  Marquis  de  Jaucourt,  the  Vi- 
comte  de  Chateaubriand,  the 
Comtes  de  La  Ferronays  and  de 
Laroche-Aymond,  the  Marquis 
de  Catelan,  the  Comtes  de  Pon- 
tecoulant,  de  Segur,  the  Due  de 
Praslin,  and  others  who  justly 
appreciated  the  mad  schemes  of 
the  Government.  They  remem- 
bered what  the  noblesse  had  al- 
ready lost  in  the  unequal  contest 
of  parchment-privileges  against 
force,  they  foresaw  what  it  would 
again  lose  by  another  such  strug- 
gle, and  they  sought  to  calm,  by 
moderation  and  prudence,  the  ex- 
altation and  exaggeration  of  the 
wild  apostles  of  a  royalist  revolu- 
tion. Although  sustained  by  the 
brilliant  cortege  of  the  titled  he- 
roes of  the  Republic  and  the 
Empire,  by  the  great  functiona- 
ries who  had  been  the  lights  of 
their  times,  and  who  retained  in 
old  age  the  patriotic  spirit  of  their 
youth,  —  although  efficiently  aid- 


defenders,  M.  de  La  Pommeraye  interi  uped  the  Prefect  with  some  sharpness,  utter- 
ing an  exclamation  which  the  journals  of  next  day  translated  into  the  polite 
wo:iis,  You  are  a  pitijul  fellow  !  Hereupon  the  orator  demanded  of  his  colleague, 
througli  the  medium  of  ttie  newspapers,  whether  the  General  had  really  intended  to 
insult  him  ;  and  M.  de  La  Pommeraye  frankly  answered  that  he  certainly  did 
intend  the  words  as  an  insult  ;  to  which  the  Prefect  made  no  reply,  being  perfectly 
sat  sfied  with  this  very  interesting  explanation. 

Another' Deputy  is  thus  disposed  of  in  the  same  work:  — 

Delarode  (Yonne,  ministeiial.)  Un  clou  chasse  Vautre. 

M.  Boutin,  Deputy  going  out.    What  do  you  want 

M.  Delarode,  Deputy  entering.    Your  place. 
[  M.  B.  Are  you  a  vcntru  7 

M.  D.  M.  Piet  and  my  colleagues  will  acknowledge  me  as  such. 

M.  B.  What  is  the  duty  of  a  ventru  ? 

M.  D.  To  vote  according  fo  his  conscience. 

M.  B.  Where  is  the  conscience  of  a  uenfrw? 

M.  D.  In  his  interest. 

M.  B.  Do  you  promise  on  your  conscience  to  do  as  I  have  done,  to  vote  for  the 
Ministers,  and  to  cry  question  !  when  occasion  t  equires  ? 
M,  D.  I  promise. 
M.  B.  Give  the  countersign. 
M.  D.  Obedience  and  profit. 
M.  B.  The  sacred  pledge. 
M.  D.  Vilelle,  quand  mtme  ! 

M.  B.  It  is  well  J  take  your  place,  vote,  and  prosper 


284 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


ed  by  such  men,  the  Mortem  arts 
and  the  Chateaubriands  strove  in 
vain  to  control  a  suicidal  mad- 
ness of  policy,  which  they  knew 
would  work  the  destruction  of 
the  Bourbons,  and  had  reason  to 
fear  would  prove  equally  fatal  in 
its  consequences  to  the  Chamber 
of  Peers.  Of  M.  de  Pastoret,  the 
perpetual  President,  we  will  mere- 
ly add,  that  he  had  well  attained 
his  political  elevation  by  a  career 
of  meritorious  public  services,  hav- 
ing traversed  the  Revolution  with 
honor.  It  was  pointedly  remark- 
ed of  him,  long  before  any  body 
anticipated  the  catastrophe  of  the 
Three  Days  :  —  'II  ne  nuira  ja- 
mais de  lui-meme  a  I'ordre  eta- 
bli  ;  mais,  si  on  voulait  le  renver- 
ser,  il  laisserait  faire.'  The  event 
has  very  strikingly  verified  this 
prediction. 

Such  was  the  Legislature,  be- 
fore whom  the  Ministers  were 
now  called  upon  to  account,  not  for 
their  measures,  but  for  their  exis- 
tence in  office.  Anxious  expec- 
tation filled  every  mind,  and  an- 
gry discussions  were  heard  in 
every  circle,  as  to  the  form  in 
which  this  great  question  would 
come  up,  and  the  effect  of  any 
hostile  demonstration  on  the  part 
either  of  the  ministers  or  of  the 
Opposition.    Would  the  Minis- 


ters resign  if  the  Address  of  the 
Deputies  should  be  against  them, 
and  a  dissolution  of  the  Chamber 
ensue  ?  The  royalist  journals 
said,  no.  '  The  Address,'  they 
argued,  '  is  of  little  consequence: 
if  it  is  hostile.  Ministers  will  put  it 
in  their  pockets,  and  pursue  their 
course  as  before  ;  they  are  not 
persons  to  retire  because  they  are 
asked  to  do  so.  Let  them  hold 
firm;  the  Address  will  pass  for 
nothing  ;  and  they  will  have  the 
majority  for  the  Budget.'  Sup- 
posing this  to  be  their  course,  and 
the  Ministers  to  disregard  the 
menaces  of  the  Opposition,  yet, 
if  the  latter  should  have  the  ma- 
jority in  the  Chamber,  what  would 
or  ought  to  be  the  effect  of  their 
refusing  the  Budget  ?  Would 
the  Ministers  then  yield  to  the 
National  Representatives  ?  Or 
would  the  King,  indignant  at  such 
an  interference  with  his  pretended 
prerogative  in  the  selection  of  his 
Ministers,  dissolve  the  Chambers  ? 
And  if  so,  would  he  order  a  new 
election  thus  making  an  appeal 
to  the  voice  of  the  Nation  ?  Or 
would  he  undertake  a  coup  d^etat, 
in  the  hope  of  maintaining  his 
ground  by  force?  These  deli- 
cate and  difficult  questions  were 
at  length  cut  short  by  the  unex- 
pected arival  of  the  national  crisis. 


CHAPTER  XII, 


FRANCE,  CONTINUED. 


^Meeting  of  the  Chambers.  — Speech  of  the  King.  —  Address  of 
the  Deputies.  —  Prorogation.  —  Discussions.  —  Dissolution  of 
the  Chamber.  —  Neiv  Ministers.  —  Elections.  —  Algerine  Expe- 
dition. —  State  of  Algiers.  —  Cause  of  the  War.  —  Prepara- 
tion. —  Landing  in  Africa.  —  Surrender  of  Algiers.  —  Colo- 
nization of  Africa. 


The  French  Chambers  assem- 
bled on  the  2d  of  March.  Alt 
France  await'^d  with  intense  anxi- 
ety the  result  of  this  the  most 
important  legislative  meeting 
which  had  occurred  since  the 
Restoration. 

The  King's  Speech  at  tiie 
opening  of  the  session,  after  al- 
hiding  to  the  probable  termina- 
tion of  the  negotiations  regarding 
Greece  and  the  intended  Alge- 
rine expedition,  and  to  some  mi- 
nor topics  of  internal  policy,  con- 
cluded with  these  words  :  '  The 
Charter  has  placed  the  public  lib- 
erties under  the  safeguard  of  the 
rights  of  my  throne.  These 
rights  are  sacred  ;  my  duty  is  to 
transmit  them  entire  to  my  suc- 
cessors. Peers  of  France  and 
Deputies  of  Departments,  I  doubt 
not  of  your  co-operation  in  effect- 
ing the  good  which  T  wish  to  ac- 
25 


complish.    You  will  repel  with 
contempt  the  perfidious  insinua- 
tions which  malevolence  endeav- 
ors  to  propagate.    If  culpable 
manoeuvres     should    raise  up 
against  my  Government  obstacles 
which  I  am  unable  —  (he  added 
on  recovering  himself)  which  I 
do  not  wish  —  to  foresee,  I  shall 
find  the  power  of  surmounting 
them  in  my  resolution  to  maintain 
the  public  peace,  in  my  just  con- 
fidence in  the  French,  and  in  the 
love  which  they    have  always 
shown  for  their  Kings.' 

In  weighing  impartially  these 
expressions,  which  occasioned  so 
much  heat,  excitement  and  dis- 
cussion at  the  time,  and  which  had 
such  a  decided  efiect  in  precipi- 
tating the  critical  moment,  it  seems 
clear  to  us  that  the  great  error  of 
the  Speech  was  in  its  mal-adapta- 
tion  to  the  sentiments  and  opin- 


286 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ions  which  then  pervaded  Fi  ance. 
It  appeared  little  better  than 
mockery  to  speak  of  '  the  love' 
which  the  French  had  '  always 
shown  for  their  Kings,'  in  sight  of 
the  half  finished  monument  of  the 
Place  Louis  Quinze,  where  the 
statue  of  Liberty  stood  within  the 
memory  of  all  men,  and  where 
Louis  XVI.,  Marie  Antoinette, 
and  Madame  Elizabeth  perished 
on  the  scaffold.  It  was  a  compli- 
ment to  the  French  no  less  equivo- 
cal, for  a  Bourbon  to  pretend  a 
'just  confidence'  in  tbem,  when 
they  had  seized  on  all  occasions  to 
inspire  that  family  with  well  found- 
ed distrust,  by  killing  four  of  its 
males  within  forty  years,  and  only 
tolerating  the  residue  from  dire 
necessity.  And  to  talk  of  the 
*  sacred  rights'  of  a  throne,  which 
was,  by  the  confession  of  the 
Ministers  themselves,  already 
shaken  to  its  foundations  by  the 
assaults  of  revolutionary  violence  ; 
to  propose  to  place  the  '  public 
liberties'  under  the  safeguard  of 
its  crumbling  fabric  ;  and  compla- 
cently to  hold  up  the  Hberties  of 
the  People  in  contrast  with  the 
rights  of  royalty :  all  this  would 
have  been  injudicious  at  any  time, 
but  at  the  present  conjuncture  was 
unspeakably  ridiculous.  It  was, 
however,  the  denunciation  of 
the  '  perfidious  insinuations,'  of 
the  '  malevolence'  and  of  the 
'  culpable  manoeuvres'  of  the 
Opposition ;  and  the  implied 
threat  in  the  concluding  sentence, 
which  roused  the  resentment  and 
stimulated  the  resolution  of  the 
Chamber. 

The  Opposition,  feeling  entire 
confidence  in  carrying  with  them 


a  decided  majority  of  the  Deputies, 
proposed  an  Address  in  reply  to 
the  Speech,  expressive  of  their  de- 
termined purpose.  The  debates 
in  the  French  Chamber  have  al- 
ways been  prone  to  assume  con- 
siderable vivacity  of  manner ;  but 
never,  since  the  Restoration,  had 
an  occasion  arisen,  in  which  the 
greatness  of  the  stake  could  better 
have  sanctioned  the  most  earnest 
appeals  of  parliamentary  elo- 
quence. The  royalists,  conscious 
as  they  must  have  been  of  the 
probable  issue,  did  not  abate  one 
jot  of  their  confidence  in  language. 
They  pretended  the  Charter  was 
a  mere  gift  of  royalty,  not  a  con- 
sequence or  effect  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  nay,  that  it  was  a  voluntary 
and  an  unexpected  gift.  All 
France,  said  M.  de  Conny,  is 
counter-revolutionary,  and  now 
asks  nothing  of  the  Ministers,  but 
that  they  shall  consolidate  the  Res- 
toration, combat  and  destroy  the 
spirit  of  faction,  unite  the  elements 
of  an  aristocratic  power,  and 
restore  to  the  Departments  their 
moral  life  of  which  they  have 
been  deprived.  M.  Guernon  de 
Ranville  contended,  that  the  at- 
tack of  the  Chamber  on  the  royal 
prerogative  exerted  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  his  Ministers,  was  an  act 
of  intolerable  usurpation  and  anti- 
monarchical  tyranny.  But  the 
comfortable  assurances  of  M.  de 
Sainte-Marine  were  the  most 
edifying.  '  The  great  majority  of 
the  population,'  said  he, '  the  third 
party  between  the  liberal  faction 
and  the  Cabinet,  consisting  of 
ihirtytwo  millions  of  Frenchmen, 
enjoys  the  present,  confides  in  the 
future,  loves  what  exists,  is  fearful 


FRANCE. 


287 


of  changes,  and  knows  that  a  pro- 
gressive system  is  a  change,  as 
well  as  a  retrograde  system.  They 
cherish  their  King,  they  love  to  be 
governed  by  him,  they  repose  con- 
fidence in  his  wisdom,  and  his  love 
for  his  People.  They  wait  for 
the  acts  of  the  ministers ;  and  as 
the  only  thing  that  they  now 
know  is,  that  the  King  has  chosen 
them,  his  choice  is  a  presumption 
in  their  favor,  and  not  a  reason  for 
their  condemnation.'  It  is  impos- 
sible, in  any  period  of  history,  to 
find  arrogant  pretensions  more 
strikingly  contrasted  with  the  real 
state  of  the  facts. 

At  length  the  Address  was  car- 
ried against  the  Ministers,  by  a 
vote  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  to  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
one,  and  concluded  thus  : 

'  Sire,  the  Charter,  which  we 
owe  to  the  wisdom  of  your  august 
predecessor,  and  the  benefits  of 
which  your  majesty  is  firmly  re- 
solved to  consolidate,  consecrates 
as  a  right  the  intervention  of  the 
country  in  the  discussion  of  the 
public  interests.  This  interven- 
tion must  be,  it  is  in  fact,  indirect, 
wisely  measured,  circumscribed 
within  limits  exactly  traced,  and 
which  we  shall  never  suffer  to  be 
passed  ;  but  it  is  positive  in  its 
result,  for  it  makes  the  permanent 
agreement  ofthe  political  views  of 
your  Government  with  the  wishes 
of  your  People  an  indispensable 
condition  of  the  regular  conduct 
of  public  affairs.  Sire,  our  loy- 
alty, our  devotedness,  condemn 
us  to  say  that  this  agreement  does 
not  exist. 

'  An  anxious  distrust  ofthe  sen- 
timents and  reason  of  France  is 


now  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
administration.  It  afflicts  your 
People,  because  it  insults  them  ;  it 
excites  their  apprehension  because 
it  threatens  their  liberties. 

'  This  distrust  cannot  approach 
your  noble  heart.  No,  Sire, 
France  no  more  desires  anarchy 
than  you  desire  despotism.  She 
deserves  your  faith  in  her  loyalty, 
as  she  reposes  faith  in  your  prom- 
ises. 

'  Between  those,  who  misun- 
derstand a  nation  so  calm,  so  faith- 
ful, —  and  us,  who,  with  a  pro- 
found conviction,  come  to  confide 
to  your  bosom  the  sorrows  of  a 
People  jealous  of  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  their  King,  let  the 
wisdom  of  your  majesty  pro- 
nounce. Your  royal  prerogatives 
have  placed  in  your  hands  the 
means  of  securing  between  the 
powers  of  the  State  that  constitu- 
tional harmony,  which  is  the  first 
and  necessary  condition  of  the 
strength  of  the  throne,  and  of  the 
grandeur  of  France.' 

This  Address  by  no  means  ex- 
pressed, in  all  its  parte,  the  con- 
curring sentiments  of  all  those 
who  voted  for  its  adoption.  Ma- 
ny of  them  were  avov/ed  Repub- 
licans, who  neither  entertained 
that  respect  for  the^Monarch  per- 
sonally, nor  for  monarchy  in  the 
abstract,  which  is  put  forward  in 
the  Address.  But  such  men  felt 
willing  to  overlook  expressions  of 
that  kind,  and  to  adopt  the  whole 
as  a  measure  of  opposition.  Had 
the  King  been  capable,  at  this  time 
or  at  any  other,  of  calculating  his 
own  position  and  rightly  estimat- 
ing the  disposition  ofthe  country, 
he  might  undoubtedly  have  saved 


288  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


his  throne  for  a  while,  and  per- 
haps transmitted  it  peaceably  to 
the  Dauphin,  by  making  the  con- 
cessions, which  the  temper  of  the 
limes  demanded  at  his  hands.  A 
change  of  Ministers,  a  frank  and 
sincere  committing  of  himself  to 
such  projects  of  public  improve- 
ment as  the  liberal  party  propos- 
ed, might  have  left  him  the  popu- 
lar King  of  a  great  nation,  if  it 
deprived  him  of  the  dubious  hon- 
ors of  being  the  chief  of  an  aris- 
tocratical  faction.  But  with  the 
infatuation  of  another  James 
11.,  he  rushed  headlong  on  to  his 
destruction,  in  spite  of  the  warn- 
ing voice  of  wisdom  and  expe- 
rience. He  immediately  com- 
municated to  the  Deputies  his 
fixed  resolution  to  persist  in 
sustaining  the  Ministers,  and  or- 
dered the  prorogation  of  the 
Chambers  to  the  1st  of  Septem- 
ber :  it  being  well  understood  that 
he  intended  soon  to  order  a  disso- 
lution, thus  taking  the  chances  of 
a  new  election,  or  at  least  pro- 
crastinating the  contemplated  blow 
at  the  Charter. 

Charles  X.  was  now  at  war 
with  France.  The  nation  had 
declared,  in  every  form  wherein 
such  a  resolution  could  be  im- 
pressed upon  the  King,  that  his 
Government  should  not  go  on  so 
long  as  the  present  Ministers  re- 
mained in  office  ;  and  he  had  as 
resolutely  declared  that  he  would 
on  no  condition  relinquish  his 
Ministers.  An  appeal  to  arms 
must  even  then  have  been  fore- 
seen as  the  probable,  nay,  almost 
the  necessary  issue  of  such  a  con- 
tention. But  the  provisions  of 
the  last  Budget  would  enable  the 


Government  to  continue  in  being 
until  the  next  September,  without 
the  aid  of  a  new  vole  of  supplies 
for  the  interim,  at  least  so  far  as 
to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of 
the  State.  It  is  true  that  the  ex- 
pedition against  Algiers  required 
the  concurrence  of  the  Chambers; 
but  the  Ministers  calculated,  wise- 
ly enough  perhaps,  that  if  they 
carried  their  main  object,  of  over- 
turning the  Charier,  they  should 
have  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of 
the  objections  to  any  slight  ir- 
regularity in  the  plan  of  the  Al- 
gerine  war.  In  the  grand  effort 
they  were  making  to  abridge  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  they  must, 
of  course,  either  succeed  or  fail; 
there  was  no  middle  result.  If 
they  succeeded,  the  power  would 
be  in  their  hands,  and  all  would 
go  smoothly  :  if  they  failed,  the 
trifling  crime  of  neglecting  one  of 
the  forms  of  law  would  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  monstrous  one  of 
attempting  to  alter  the  constitu- 
tion of  government.  Until  the 
month  of  September,  therefore, 
they  could  avert  the  final  crisis, 
which  they  dreaded  to  meet,  as 
much  as  they  desired  it  should 
take  place  ;  and  thus  much  time 
remained  to  them  for  essaying  the 
force  of  intrigue,  manceuvre,  and 
corruption,  and  maturing  their 
plans  of  eventually  entering  upon 
civil  war  with  the  prospect  of  vic- 
tory. 

During  the  whole  period  which 
elapsed  before  the  downfal  of  the 
dynasty,  the  Kingdom  was  agi- 
tated to  its  very  centre  by  the 
progress  of  the  expedition  against 
Algiers  and  the  course  of  the  elec- 
tions for  a  new  Chamber.  But 


FRANCE. 


28d 


disscussions  of  the  actual  predica- 
ment of  the  Ministers,  and  of  the 
complexion  assumed  by  this  great 
political  question  since  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  Address,  were  not 
the  less  unremittedly  pursued  in 
the  public  journals.  The  same 
question  had  arisen  in  England,  it 
will  be  remembered,  in  the  reign 
of  George  III., when  Mr  Pitt  was 
appointed  to  office  against  the 
voice  of  a  majority  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  Notwithstanding 
the  vote  of  the  House  demanding 
his  removal,  the  King  adhered 
firmly  to  the  selecdon  he  had 
made,  and  treated  it  as  a  matter 
narrowly  affecting  his  prerogative, 
in  the  same  way  as  Charles  X.  re- 
garded it  in  like  circumstances. 
Mr  Pitt  also  maintained  his  ground 
by  fair  argument,  until  the  senti- 
ment of  the  Nation  was  with  him, 
and  then,  and  not  till  then,  advis- 
ed a  dissolution,  and  the  return  of 
a  new  House  of  Commons.  If 
Polignac  had  intended  or  desired 
to  govern  vi^isely  and  to  the  pub- 
lic satisfaction  in  the  sense  of  the 
Charter,  he  might  have  adopted 
the  same  course  not  without  some 
hope  of  success.  But  unfortu- 
nately for  him,  his  object  was  to 
revolutionize  the  Government ; 
or,  as  M.  de  Conny  would  phrase 
it,  consolidate  the  Restoration;  and 
of  course  he  could  not  stand  upon 
the  Charter,  and  by  moderation 
and  prudence  in  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs  give  the  lie  to  the 
prediction  of  the  liberals,  and  thus 
secure  the  support  of  the  Nation. 

But   while  M.  de  Poli2;nac 
could,  undeniably,  find  such  a 
precedent  as  the  remarkable  one 
of  Mr  Pitt,  to  sanction  his  con- 
25* 


tinuance  in  office  in  spite  of  an 
adverse  vote  of  the  elective  branch 
of  the  Legislature ;  and  if  his 
purposes  had  been  constitutional 
and  fair  like  Mr  Pitt's,  might 
have  ventured  to  repeat  the  ex- 
periment; yet  even  in  the  latter 
case  such  a  course  would  have 
been  wholly  indefensible,  consid- 
ering the  question  as  one  for  a 
patriotic  Minister  to  decide,  with 
reference  to  the  welfare  of  his 
King  and  his  country.  It  was 
mere  madness  to  stake  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Monarchy  itself  up- 
on a  metaphysical  abstraction,  a 
point  of  transcendental  right,  not 
worthy  to  be  weighed  an  instant 
of  time  in  the  balance  with  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  public  service. 
For,  to  recur  once  more  to  the 
example  of  England,  whose  con- 
stitution M.  de  Polignac  said  was 
the  study  of  his  life,  how  often  has 
it  happened  there  that  Ministers 
had  resigned  because  they  had 
lost  the  confidence  of  Parliament  : 
how  often  have  Kings  retained  in, 
or  appointed  to,  office,  some  indi- 
viduals unacceptable  to  themselves 
because  he  possessed  the  confi- 
dence of  Parliament.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  experience  of  every  day. 

True,  the  King  by  his  prej 
rogative,  has  the  right  to  select 
such  Ministers  as  he  sees  fit,  and 
those  Ministers  may  remain  in  of- 
fice, whether  they  are  agreeable 
to  Parliament  or  not.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  Parliament  has 
just  as  good  an  extreme  right  to 
reject  all  the  propositions  of  the 
Ministers,  whether  relating  to 
money  matters  or  anything  else. 
The  objection  to  such  a  proce- 
dure, on  the  part  of  either,  is  that 


290 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  country  suffers  ineanwhile. 
And  with  just  as  much  reason  as 
Charles  alleged  that,  to  vote 
against  his  Ministers  as  such,  was 
an  attack  on  his  prerogative  in 
their  appointment,  with  the  same 
propriety  might  the  Chambers 
allege  that,  in  demanding  of  diem 
a  vote  of  supplies  whether  they  had 
confidence  in  the  Ministers  or 
not,  die  King  was  invading  their 
privilege  by  the  Charter.  As  a 
question  of  abstract  right,  there- 
fore, it  was  absurd  for  the  King  to 
assume  the  ground  he  did  ;  be- 
cause it  should  have  been  con- 
sidered and  decided  as  a  question 
of  public  good  and  of  political  ex- 
pediency. Both  parties  had  a  right 
to  insist,  and  each  had  certainly 
as  good  a  right  to  recede.  By 
refusing  to  yield,  the  King  embar- 
rassed the  public  business  and 
filled  the  country  with  contention, 
discord,  and  civil  war;  by  grace- 
fully yielding  he  would  have  pre- 
vented all  this  injury  to  the  coun- 
try, and  would  have  preserved  the 
throne  to  himself,  instead  of 
throwing  it  away  upon  an  idle 
punctilio  of  personal  pride. 

We  stated,  in  mentioning  the 
prorogation  of  the  Chambers, 
that  the  dissolution  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  was  expected 
soon'^  to  follow.  In  anticipation 
of  this  event,  the  liberal  party  had 
been  busy  in  preparing  for  a  des- 
perate contest.  The  Ministers 
appeared  to  think  that  the  impos- 
ing spectacle  of  the  preparations 
against  Algiers  was  enough  to 
conciliate  for  them  the  good  will 
of  the  electors  ;  and  on  the  17th 
of  May  an  ordinance  was  publish- 
ed dissolving  the  present  Cham- 


bers, ordering  the  meeting  of  the 
Electoral  Colleges  for  the  23d  of 
June  and  the  3d  of  July,  and  that 
of  the  two  Chambers  on  the  3d 
of  August.    '  From  this  time  to 
the  conclusion  of  the  elections/ 
says  Dr  Lardner's  valuable  Re- 
trospect, '  a  scene  of  political  ac- 
tivity, and  paroxysms  of  political 
energy,  were  exhibited,  which  are 
seldom  witnessed  even  in  times  of 
revoludon.     The  names  of  the 
two  hundred  and  twentyone,  who 
voted  the  hostile  Address,  had 
been  published.    Their  courage 
and  constitutional  principles  had 
been  applauded  to  the  skies  for 
two  months  in  almost  every  jour- 
nal in  the  Kingdom  ;  and  their 
re-election  was  now  called  for, 
not  only  as  a  reward  for  their  pa- 
triotism, but  as  a  defiance  of  their 
enemies.    Manuals  of  the  elec- 
toral laws  were  printed  by  a  lib- 
eral association  m  all  the  liberal 
papers,  and  purposely  scattered 
among  all  the  electors  of  the 
Provinces.    The  Committee  for 
managing  the  elections  in  Paris 
sent  around  their  lists  of  candid- 
ates for  all  the  Electoral  Colleges. 
Committees  were  also  formed  in 
every  Department  or  Electoral 
District,  to  watch  the  proceedings 
of  the  Prefects  and  other  agents 
of  Government,  to  examine  the 
lists  of  electors,  to  restore  [the 
names  of  persons  who  had  a  right 
to  vote,  to  detect  fraud  or  imposi- 
tion in  those  who  had  not,  and  to 
prosecute^before  the  tribunals  all 
infractions  of  the  electoral  laws 
by  the  aid  or  through  the  conni- 
vance of  the  administration.  Tlie 
Ministry,  on  their    side,  were 
equally  active,  but   their  efforts 


FRANCE. 


291 


were  totally  inefficient  against 
the  overwhelming  force  of  their 
adversaries.' 

We  know  not  what  inconceiva- 
ble infatuation  of  mind  could  have 
induced  the  Court,  at  this  time,  to 
remodel  the  Cabinet,  and  espe- 
cially to  introduce  the  individuals, 
who  now  entered  into  it.  M. 
de  Courvoisier  could  hardly  be 
suspected  of  revolutionary  tend- 
encies, and  his  pliability  of  charac- 
ter would  have  been  likely  to  keep 
him  in  the  traces  with  his  fellow- 
ministers.  But  it  seems  that  M. 
de  Polignac  could  not  trust  him 
for  the  desperate  effort  that  was 
now  to  be  made.  An  ill  regulat- 
ed piety,  by  devoting  him  to  the 
party  of  the  Jesuits,  was  the  as- 
signed cause  of  his  having  so  long 
adhered  to  the  court  interest,  not- 
withstanding his  supposed  attach- 
ment to  constitutional  principles. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  might 
take  for  his  device,  '  Liberte  et 
Loyola  and  perhaps  M.  de  Po- 
lignac feared  Iciit  Courvoisier 
should  allow  the  former  predilec- 
tion to  get  the  better  of  the  last, 
in  the  view  of  the  ardent  zeal  of 
all  France  for  maintaining  the 
Charter.  '  Courvoisier,'  said  a 
liberal  writer  in  August,  1829, '  is 
good  at  bottom;  appearances  only 
are  against  him  ;  ambition  has  in- 
duced him  to  commit  an  error, 
for  which  his  conscience  pricks 
him  continually  ;  and  I  should  not 
be  surprised  if  he  had  a  falling 
out  with  his  colleagues,  and  retir- 
ed of  his  own  accford  if  he  was 
not  obliged  to  do  it  by  others.' 
M.  Chantelauze,  a  man  new  to 
high  official  station,  but  recom- 
mended to  Polignac,  it  would 


seem,  for  that  which  Courvoisier 
wanted,  was  appointed  to  super- 
sede him  in  the  custody  of  the 
Seals.  A  new  ministry  was  at  the 
same  time  created  for  Baron  Ca- 
pelle,  that  of  Public  Works. 

But  these  changes  were  of 
comparatively  minor  conse- 
quence, considering  the  nature  of 
an  appointment  made  in  place  of 
M.  de  Chabrol.  This  gentleman 
had  remained  in  office  during  so 
many  changes,  that  it  was  re- 
proachfully said  of  him  that  he 
had  a  mania  for  devouring  office, 
and  so  it  was  but  an  office,  it 
mattered  little  to  him  what  kind 
of  one  it  was  or  whence  it  came. 
He  possessed  those  convenient 
talents,  which,  united  with  gene- 
ral probity  of  character  and  con- 
siderable administrative  capacity, 
enabled  him  to  hold  place  in  sue-  ' 
cessive  but  very  different  Cabi- 
nets. But  his  good  fortune  drove 
him  seasonably  from  this,  and 
preserved  him  from  a  furdier  par- 
ticipation in  its  treasonable  de- 
signs. M.  de  Polignac,  in  pro- 
viding a  substitute,  was  determin- 
ed, one  would  think,  to  have  a 
man  as  unpopular  as  himself, 
hardly  less  odious  than  Bourmont, 
and  equally  harsh  and  violent  in 
his  politics  with  La  Bourdon- 
naye;  in  order  that,  as  La  Bour- 
donnaye  had  resigned,  and  Bour- 
mont was  to  command  the  Afri- 
can army,  he  (M.  de  Polignac) 
might  not  stand  '  alone  in  his 
glory.'  Accordingly,  he  selected 
M.  de  Peyronnet,  who  had  serv- 
ed through  M.  de  Villele's  seven 
years  as  the  amedamne  of '  the 
deplorable  ministry ;'  and  who 
was  not  less  obnoxious  to  censure 


292 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


on  account  of  his  personal  char- 
acter than  his  official  conduct. 
To  adopt  Peyronnet  as  a  coad- 
jutor was  a  sort  of  desperate  de- 
fiance of  public  opinion,  an  out- 
rage upon  the  feelings  of  the  Na- 
tion.   It  was  equivalent  to  de- 
claring on  the  part  of  Charles,  that 
he  and  France  being  now  irrecon- 
cileably  at  issue,  it  was  no  nnatter 
how  unscrupulous  in  principle  or 
detestable  in  reputation  his  agents 
maybe,  so  they  were  prepared  to 
enter  into  and  ableto  assist  in, his. 
plan  for  subverting  the  Charter 
M.  de  Peyronnet  was  created 
Minister  of  the    Interior,  such 
changes  being  made  among  the 
other  members  of  the  Cabinet  as 
to  admit  him  to  this  post.  The 
immediate  object  of  the  arraniie- 
ment  was  to  bring  into  action  his 
vigor  of  purpose,  his  activity,  and 
his  unshrinking  readiness  to  go  all 
lengths,  in  the  hope  that  by  means 
of  these  qualities  he  might  be  able 
to  influence  the  pending  elections. 
His  office  brought  him  into  im- 
mediate contact  with  the  mul- 
titude of  executive  agents,  who 
are  employed  in   the  internal 
government  of  France ;  and  it 
was  upon  this  point  that  all  his 
energies  were  concentrated,  so  as 
to  spare  no  efforts  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  procure  a  ministerial  ma- 
jority in  the  new  Chamber.  In 
furtherance  of  this   object,  the 
Ministers  addressed  circulars  to 
the  employes  in  their  respective 
Departments,  requiring  of  them  to 
purchase  a  continuance  in  office 
by  blind  devotion  to  their  Chiefs, 
and  thus  openly  setting  at  nought 
the  whole  theory  of  the  Charter, 
which  gave  to  every  man  the  right 


of  voting  according  to  the  dictates 
of  his  conscience,  without  account- 
ability therefor  to  the  Govern- 
ment. Nay,  a  proclamation  was 
addressed  to  the  People  in  the 
King's  name,  with  a  view  to  over- 
awe the  Electoral  Colleges,  but 
which  had  the  effect  of  adding 
new  stimulus  to  the  excited  feel- 
ings of  the  liberal  party,  or  rather 
of  the  great  body  of  the  Nation, 
for  the  two  expressions  are  con- 
vertible. 

Notwithstanding:  therefore,  all 
the  unconstitutional  efforts  and 
humbling  manoeuvres  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  break  down  the  free- 
dom of  elections,  their  intrigues 
failed  of  the  intended  effects,  and 
the  results  of  the  ballot  was  a  signal 
triumph  of  the  constitutionalists. 
Owing  to  a  great  number  of  dis- 
puted cases  growing  out  of  the 
method  allowed  by  law  for  ascer- 
taining the  correctness  of  the 
electoral  lists,  the  elections  could 
not  all  be  accomplished  on  the 
days  originally  fixed  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  the  12th  and  19th  of 
July  were  appointed  for  their 
completion.  When  the  returns 
were  all  received, it  appeared  that 
fortynine  persons  were  added  lo 
the  liberal  representation,  the 
numbers  standing,  two  hundred 
and  seventy,  to  one  hundred  and 
fortyfive,  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration, upon  either  side,  fif- 
teen who  remained  questionable. 
More  than  two  hundred  of  the  old 
members,  who  voted  the  famous 
Address,  were  reelected,  although 
the  whole  force  of  royal  indigna- 
tion and  royal  vengeance  was  di- 
rected especially  against  them  ; 
and  France  stood  thus  directly 


FRANCE. 


pledged,  as  it  were,  and  commit- 
ted past  redemption,  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  Address. 

This  triumph  of  that  liberal 
party  was  the  more  signal,  inas- 
much as  it  was  effected,  not  by 
the  agency  of  a  turbulent  democ- 
racy of  the  poor  and  dependent 
classes  of  men,  who  might  be 
accused,  however  unjustly,  of  lev- 
elling principles  and  feelings.  In 
France,  the  representation  was 
based  altogether  upon  proper- 
ty. By  the  complicated  system 
of  the  Electoral  Colleges,  the 
elections  were  altogether  in  the 
hands  of  the  richer  citizens,  or  at 
least  the  poorer  classes  were  ex- 
cluded from  any  direcj  participa- 
tion in  the  elective  franchise. — 
The  qualification  was  territorial, 
being  the  payment  of  300  francs 
annually  in  direct  taxes ;  and  a 
comparison  of  this  with  our  own 
system  will  enable  every  one  to 
judge  of  its  operation.  Nor  is 
this  all.  The  great  proprietors 
were  allowed  a  double  vote  ;  that 
is,  they  voted  in  two  separate  Col- 
leges, by  virtue  of  one  of  the 
ingenious  arrangements  of  past 
Ministers  for  throwing  all  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy. 
Two  sets  of  Electoral  Colleges 
existed,  the  Colleges  of  Arrondis- 
sements,  which  returned  two  hun- 
dred and  fiftyfoiir  Depudes,  and  the 
Colleges  of  Departments,  which 
returned  the  remaining  one  hun- 
dred and  seventysix.  Of  the  same 
individuals,  who  composed  the 
Colleges  of  Arrondissements,  and 
who  voted  in  them,  one  quarter 
part,  namely,  the  quarter  paying 
the  highest  tax,  afterwards  formed 
themselves  into  Colleges  of  De- 


partments, and  there  chose  ad- 
ditional Deputies.  Thus  the 
richest  nobles  and  commoners 
exclusively  elected  two  fifths  of 
the  Chamber,  and  the  same  indi- 
viduals participated  with  the  other 
property  holders  in  electing  the 
remaining  three  fifths ;  being  in 
effect  like  the  system  in  England 
b)  which  a  person  may  have  a 
double  vote,  first  in  the  election  of 
Borough  members  and  afterwards 
in  that  of  County  members,  al- 
though different  from  the  English 
system  in  form.  It  will  be  com- 
prehended at  once  by  means  of  an 
application  to  our  own  instituUons. 
Suppose  that  of  tliirtyfour  mem- 
bers of  Congress  in  New  York, 
twenty  were  elected  by  the  votes 
of  all  proprietors  having  an  in- 
come of  600  dollars  per  annum, 
and  that  the  richest  quarter  part 
of  the  same  electors  chose  the 
remaining  fourteen  members  ;  and 
that  the  systems  were  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States.  — 
We  shall  thus  understand  the  na- 
ture of  the  double  vote  and  the 
anti-democratic  theory  of  the  elec- 
tions, about  which  the  liberal 
party  in  France  have  so  justly 
complained ;  and  we  shall  the 
better  appreciate  the  extent  of  the 
victory  they  gained  at  this  time 
over  the  Ministers. 

The  conduct  of  the  French 
elections  presented  a  remarkable 
contrast  to  what  might  be  seen  in 
England  on  like  occasions.  In 
France,  there  was,  it  may  be  well 
supposed,  abundance  of  zeal,  and 
no  want  of  vivacity  of  discussion 
or  feeling ;  but  we  may  look  in 
vain  for  any  traces  ot  the  whole- 
sale system  of  bribery  and  corrup- 


294 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


tion,  which  disgraces  the  elections 
in  England.  In  the  latter  coun- 
try, under  the  reign  of  rotten 
boroughs  and  aristocratic  influ- 
ence ;  if  the  franchise  was  held  by 
a  few  persons,  —  by  the  burgage 
tenants,  the  corporation,  the  in- 
habitants paying  scot  and  lot,  the 
pot-wallopers^  or  any  other  com- 
bination, whether  a  rational  or 
irrational  one,  of  a  small  number 
of  individuals,  —  they  of  course 
received  their  consideration,  their 
quid  pro  quo,  for  the  representa- 
tive they  very  kindly  sent  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  If  the 
number  of  voters  happened  to  be 
large,  they  might  view  a  contested 
election  as  a  source  of  profit,  and 
we  have  seen  in  the  recent  case  of 
Liverpool  how  reckless  they  felt 
even  as  to  the  external  decen- 
cies of  corruption,  if  decencies  it 
can  be  said  to  possess  in  any  cir- 
cumstances. But  while  scenes 
of  frantic  mob-fury,  or  of  impu- 
dent undisguised  bribery  too  fre- 
quently characterized  the  English 
elections,  in  France  a  picture  of 
a  far  different  kind  was  presented 
to  the  eye.  The  electors  do  not 
invite  candidates  to  appear  and 
contend  for  their  votes,  in  France, 
in  order  that  large  sums  of  mon- 
ey may  be  presented  to  or  ex- 
pended among  them  ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  has  repeatedly  hap- 
pened that  the  same  individual 
has  been  cotemporaneously  re- 
turned by  several  distinct  Colle- 
ges. In  fact,  during  the  long 
struggle  between  the  liberal  and 
royalist  parties,  the  decorousness 
and  purity  displayed  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  elective  franchise  by 
the  French,  when  compared  with 
the  violence  and  corruption,  the 


treating,  feasting,  and  bribery 
attending  it  in  England,  afford  a 
sufficient  answer  to  the  English 
sciolists,  who  have  so  often  pre- 
tended that  their  continental 
neighbors  were  unprepared  for 
the  enjoyment  of  liberty. 

It  should  be  remembered  that 
during  the  whole  period  of  the 
elections,  and  the  several  months 
that  preceded  them,  all  France 
had  been  dazzled  and  animated 
by  the  preparations  for  the  expe- 
dition against  Algiers,  and  the 
movements  of  the  African  army  ; 
but  wholly  without  producing  the 
effect  anticipated  by  the  Ministers. 
And  such  was  the  singular  for- 
tune  of  the  Bourbons,  that  in  the 
last  month  of  their  expiring  pow- 
er, in  the  very  July  of  the  Revo- 
lution, they  were  destined  to  ob- 
tain by  conquest  an  accession  to 
the  territories  of  France,  w4iich 
even  in  the  days  of  her  departed 
glory  might  have  been  considered 
highly  important.  For  it  is  not  a 
mere  barren  rock  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, like  Malta  or  Gibraltar, 
which  France  has  acquired  in  the 
capture  of  Algiers,  but  an  exten- 
sive kingdom  in  the  most  fertile 
regions  of  the  continent  of  Afri- 
ca. 

We  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
Algiers,  in  common  with  the  oth- 
er Barbary  States,  as  only  a  nest 
of  pirates  at  perpetual  war  with 
Christendom.  The  nature  of 
those  relations,  which  European 
powers  have  had  with  the  masters 
of  the  Mediterranean  shore  of 
Africa,  might  well  leave  such  im- 
pressions on  the  mind,  were  we  not 
careful  to  recall,  by  an  exertion  of 
memory,  the  past  condition  of  that 
part  of  the  inhabited  globe,  and  its 


FRANCE. 


295 


actual  capabilities.  It  is  but  open- 
ing the  book  of  history  to  find  the 
populous  and  powerful  Carthage, 
the  capital  of  a  great  African  Em- 
pire, reaching  Spain,  Sicily,  and 
Sardinia  in  its  dominion  or  influ- 
ence, and  yielding  only  at  length  to 
the  irresistible  genius  of  Rome. 
To  judge  of  the  commerce  of  the 
Carthaginians  we  must  consider 
that  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve they  had  circumnavigated 
Africa,  returning  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean by  Egypt,  and  that  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  they  did  not  find 
their  way  across  the  Western 
Ocean.  When  Northern  Africa 
had  ceased  to  be  the  rival,  it  be- 
came one  of  the  granaries,  of 
Rome ;  and  was  a  wealthy  and 
populous  region,  when  the  Van- 
dals, in  the  fifth  century,  having 
left  their  name  to  half  of  Spain, 
crossed  the  sea,  and  founded  a 
Gothic  Kingdom  in  ancient  Car- 
thage, whence  the  Barbarian  Gen- 
seric  sent  forth  his  expeditions  to 
ravage  and  sack  the  Eternal  City, 
and  the  miserable  towns  of  Italy 
and  Greece.  If  Belisarius  restor- 
ed Africa  to  the  Empire  again,  it 
was  but  to  prepare  it  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  another  band  of  half 
civilized  conquerors,  the  Arabs, 
who  made  it  that  which  it  has 
since  been  in  modern  times.  Hap- 
pily their  invasions  of  Christendom, 
their  long  occupation  of  Spain  and 
parts  of  France  and  Sicily,  —  for 
even  in  the  latter  countries  traces 
of  their  presence  still  remain, — 
and  even  their  sway  in  Africa 
itself,  have  gradually  given  way 
before  the  fortunes  of  Europe. 

Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoh,  it  is 
known,  have  long  had  substantial- 
ly the  same  political  condition, 


being  each  the  capital  of  a  con- 
siderable territory,  nominally  sub- 
ject to  the  Porte,  as  the  great 
head  of  the  Mussulman  Empire, 
but  possessing  much  real  inde- 
pendence. Preferring  piracy  to 
the  lawful  means  of  gain  which 
navigation  affords,  Algiers  espe- 
cially has  long  been  the  scourge 
and  the  terror  of  the  Mediterrane- 
an, and  by  the  strength  of  its  posi- 
tion and  other  natural  advantages 
had  been  able  to  defy  even  the  re- 
sources and  the  military  talents 
of  Charles  the  Fifth.  The  various 
Christian  nations  which  occupied 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
or  who  visited  that  sea  for  the  pur- 
poses of  commerce,  continued  for 
two  or  three  hundred  years  to 
submit  to  the  payment  of  a  dis- 
graceful tribute  to  the  Dey  as  the 
price  of  exemption  from  ravage 
or  capture,  which  did  not  prevent 
the  Algerines  from  being  almost 
constantly  at  variance  with  one 
or  another  Power,  and  thus  hav- 
ing a  pretext  for  plundering  at 
sea  or  on  land,  and  making  cap- 
tives to  be  reduced  to  a  state  of 
slavery.  The  principle  on  which 
this  tribute  was  demanded  seems 
to  have  had  precedents  among 
several  of  the  European  nations, 
much  as  we  are  accustomed  to 
regard  it  with  horror  as  one  of 
the  peculiarities  of  African  and 
Moorish  barbarism.  The  black 
mail,  which  the  novel  of  Waverley 
has  rendered  so  familiar  to  the 
admirers  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
works,  seems  to  have  been  strik- 
ingly similar  to  the  Barbary  trib- 
ute. And  the  Sound  Dues,  paid 
in  passing  Elsineur  to  enter  the 
Baltic,  rest  on  no  better  founda- 
tion ;  being  originally  a  composi- 


296  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 

tion  exacted  in  the  same  way  by  pulling  down  the  weaker  States, 
the  rulers  of  those  who  ravaged  parcelling  out  provinces  at  will, 
the  north  of  Europe,  as  the  Barba-  and  making  or  unmaking  Kings, 
ry  cruisers  did  the  south,  and  be-  under  various  specious  pretexts, 
ing  now  little  better  than  a  mere   of  consulting  the  peace,  tranquilli- 

gratuitous  tribute,  continuing  to  ty,  or  welfare  of  Europe.    But  it 

be  paid  when  it  no  longer  is  a  better  suited  the  convenience  of 

consideration  for  exemption  from  the  Holy  Alliance  to  make  war 

pillage.    But  the  Algerines,  in  against  Freedom,  than  to  unite  in 

applying  to  men  of  European  and  putting  down  Barbarism.  jE'ortu- 

African  stocks   indiscriminately,  nately,  the  hereditary  conspirators 

the  doctrine  in  regard  to  personal  against  the  rights  of  mankind  have 

servitude,  which  Europeans  would  lately  received,  or  are  in  the  course 

prefer  to  have  exclusively  applied  of  receiving,  their  meet  reward,  in 

to  Africans,   have  gained  quite  the  revolutionary  movement  which 

iheir  due  share  of  odium  in  the  is  now  shaking  their  thrones;  and 

eyes  of  Europe  ;  and  the  piratical  their   mutual  jealousies,  which 

insolence  and  contempt  of  right,  would  not  sanction  any  joint  effort 

which  so  generally  characterized  to  chastise  the  Moors,  have  suf- 

their  conduct  have  at  length  in  fered  Algiers  to  pass  under  the 
our  own  times  drawn  down  upon    dominion  of  France, 
them  the  merited  indignation  of  the      At  the  time  when  the  expedi- 

great  maritime  powers,  and  thus  fi-  tion  to  Africa  was  planned,  war 
nally  led  to  the  extinction  of  Algiers  had  already  existed  between 
as  an  independent  sovereignty.       France  and  Algiers  for  the  space 

The  United  States  having  com-  of  nearly  three  years.    It  arose 

menced  the  task  of  bringing  these  out  of  a  trifling  incident,  so  far  as 

obstinate  sea  robbers  to  reason,  regards  the  immediate  cause  of  it. 

Great  Britain  and  the  Netherlands  although  afterwards  very  weighty 

speedily  followed  our  example ;  reasons  of  another  kind  were 

and  her  depredations  upon  the  adduced  in  its  justification.  Al- 

ships  and  citizens  of  a  portion  of  giers  possessed  claims  on  France 

Christianity  were  thus  checked,  for    supplies   furnished   to  the 

But  Algiers  continued  to  receive  armies  of  the  Republic  in  Italy 

tribute  from  various  quarters,  ei-  and  Egypt.    We  can  judge  for 

ther  directly  eo  nomine,  or  in  the  our  own  share,  whether  it  was 

shape  of  diplomatic  presents  ;  and  likely  to  be  an  easy  matter  for  the 

abated  but  little  of  her  insolence  Dey  to  obtain  a  liquidation  of  these 

towards  the  nations,  which  con-  claims.    The  European  nations 

descended  to  temporize  with  or  have  very  peculiar  notions  as  to 

submit  to   her  barbaric  policy,  international  law,  maritime  rights, 

This  subject,   like  the   general  and  so  forth.    England,  France, 

question  of  African  slavery,  has  Spain,   Holland,   Naples,  —  all 

received  the  attention  of  various  thought  it  an  insufferable  griev- 

of  those  European  Congresses  of  ance  to  be  despoiled  by  Algiers, 

the  last  fifteen  years,  which  as-  when  they  were  at  peace  with 

sume  the  right  of  setting  up  and  her,  of  a  few  hundreds  where  each 


FRANCE. 


297 


of  them,  with  not  a  tittle  more  of 
right,  has  despoiled  the  United 
States  of  as  many  thousands,  on 
the  great  highway  of  nations.  We 
suppose  the  Dey  used  to  have 
some  learned  cavil  of  prize  law, 
or  at  any  rate  some  convenient 
ordinance  emanating  from  his  own 
good  pleasure,  to  justify  his  dep- 
redations ;  and  on  what  better 
right  have  our  citizens  been  rob- 
bed of  so  many  milHons  of  money 
by  those  Powers,  which  pride 
themselves  upon  their  European 
civilization,  and  their  superiority  in 
national  equity  over  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Numidians  ?  Again, 
the  Dey,  we  doubt  not,  although 
he  had  no  exchequer  tallies,  nor 
kept  so  much  as  a  register  of  his 
receipts  and  expenses,  yet  believ- 
ed that  nations  ought  to  pay  their 
debts  as  well  as  individuals,  and 
probably  saw  no  good  reason  why 
the  liquidation  of  a  just  claim 
should  be  put  off  for  twenty  years  ; 
and  we  profess  that  we  can  sym- 
pathize in  the  feeling  he  entertain- 
ed, that  in  such  matters  a  very 
odd  system  of  national  morals  ob- 
tained in  Europe.  For  thus  it 
was  with  the  claims  in  question, 
of  Algiers  upon  France.  Some 
years  after  the  Restoration,  a 
commission  examined  the  matter 
and  awarded  the  sum  of  seven 
millions  of  francs  to  the  Algerine 
creditors  of  France ;  but  the 
French  Government  saw  fit  to 
impound  the  money  to  meet  some 
alleged  claims  of  its  citizens  upon 
Algiers. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  Dey, 
weary  of  attempting  in  vain  to 
obtain  justice  by  means  of  the 
French  consul,  wrote  to  the  King 
of  France  himself,  through  the 
26 


consul  of  a  common  friend.  This 
application  was  left  unnoticed.  It 
happened  in  April,  1827,  that 
the  French  consul,  having  some 
other  business  to  transact  with  the 
Dey,  waited  upon  him  in  full  di- 
van for  that  purpose ;  and  the 
Dey  embraced  this  opportunity  to 
inquire  why  his  letters  were  not 
answered.  *My  master,'  replied 
the  consul,  '  has  no  answer  to 
make  to  a  man  like  you.'  This 
most  assuredly  was  an  extraordi- 
nary answer  to  be  made  to  the 
Sovereign  of  the  country  by  a 
foreign  consul  residing  there  by 
the  favor  of  that  Sovereign  ;  and 
the  Dey  was  so  highly  incensed, 
that  he  lost  his  presence  of  mind, 
and  struck  the  consul  a  blow 
with  his  fan.  Reparation  was 
demanded  for  the  insult  to  France 
in  the  person  of  her  representa- 
tive and  agent ;  and  this  being 
refused,  or  at  least  not  being  of- 
fered in  terms  satisfactory  to 
France,  she  declared  war  against 
the  Regency,  and  immediately 
commenced  the  blockade  of  Al- 
giers. The  war  had  lingered  on 
for  three  years,  nothing  more  than 
the  blockade  having  been  attempt- 
ed in  all  that  time.  The  Villele 
and  Martignac  Ministers  had  been 
loath  to  come  to  close  quarters  by 
making  an  actual  attack  upon  the 
fortifications  of  Algiers,  —  an  en^ 
terprise  in  which  so  many  had 
failed,  and  where  defeat  would 
redound  in  such  deplorable  dis- 
grace and  mortification.  But  oth- 
er feelings  now  animated  M..  d^ 
Polignac  and  his  colleagues. 

M.  de  Polignac,  as  we  have  be- 
fore hinted,  unquestionably  thought 
to  divert  public  attention  from  his 
despotic  measures  by  the  brilliant 


« 


298  ANNUAL  REGIi 

spectacle  of  martial  preparation  and 
triumph.  He  expected  to  gain 
popularity  for  his  administration 
by  flattering  the  military  pride  of 
the  Nation  ;  and  he  might  feel 
not  without  hope  thus  to  awaken 
some  little  spirit  in  favor  of  the 
Bourbons,  should  the  expedition 
be  attended  with  victories  and 
final  success.  Whether  he  went 
so  far  as  to  suppose  he  might 
thus  get  a  disposable  force  under 
arms  to  assist  him  in  bearing  down 
the  People,  we  doubt;  because, 
if  he  possessed  the  least  fore- 
thought, he  must  have  seen  that 
the  crisis  would  pass  before  any 
troops,  however  obsequious  their 
disposition,  and  however  rapid 
their  movements,  could  be  brought 
from  Algiers  to  act  against  Paris. 
And  we  presume  that  M.  de  Bour- 
mont,  a  brave  man  and  able  of- 
ficer, might  look  to  this  occasion, 
as  the  means  of  acquiring  military 
reputation  sufficient  to  neutralize 
some  part  of  the  odium  attached 
to  his  name  ;  and  he  would  there- 
fore exert  all  his  influence  in  the 
Cabinet  to  urge  on  the  expedition, 
of  which  as  it  subsequently  ap- 
peared, he  was  to  have  the  com- 
mand. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  seek  to  disguise  from 
themselves  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  of  the  expedition.  No 
pains  were  spared  to  obtain  all 
possible  information  from  every 
quarter,  domestic  or  foreign,  which 
books  or  individuals  could  com- 
municate. All  the  energies  of 
the  country,  intellectual  and  pecu- 
niary, were  put  in  requisition  to 
insure  success.  In  the  first  place, 
the  Minister  of  War  himself,  M. 
de  Bourmont,  was  made  com- 


5TER,  1829  —  30. 

mander-in-chief,  and  Admiral  Du- 
perre,  the  first  naval  officer  of  the 
Kingdom,  was  joined  with  him  to 
lead  the  naval  forces.  A  numer- 
ous army,  with  appointments  on  a 
magnificent  scale,  a  large  and 
powerful  fleet,  and  the  whole  ap- 
paratus of  war  fitted  to  the  pres- 
ent state  of  military  experience, 
were  to  be  conducted  by  officers 
of  tried  skill  and  acknowledged 
merit. 

Indeed,  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  preparations  may  be  judged 
of  by  the  language  of  the  liberal 
party  at  different  times.  When 
the  campaign  was  first  seriously 
talked  of  by  the  Government,  it 
was  strenuously  and  loudly  con- 
demned by  the  Opposition  as  a 
Quixotic  enterprise  against  an 
African  barbarian,  which  would 
probably  fail,  and  would  be  of  no 
permanent  advantage  if  it  succeed- 
ed. They  dwelt  upon  the  fail- 
ures of  other  expeditions  against 
Algiers,  as  aflbrding  too  sure  a 
presage  of  the  fate  of  this.  It 
was  almost  impossible,  they  said, 
to  effect  a  landing,  owing  to  the 
tempestuous  character  of  the  seas 
along  the  Algerine  coast,  the  na- 
ture of  the  shore,  and  the  facili- 
ties for  opposing  the  disembarka- 
tion of  an  invading  army.  If  a 
landing  was  effected,  the  soil 
afforded  no  forage  for  horses  or 
supplies  for  men,  and  the  troops 
would  be  consumed  by  the  burn- 
ing heats  of  Africa,  amid  the  ha- 
rassing attacks  of  the  Moors  and 
Arabs,  who  were  habituated  to 
the  climate,  and  would  have  con- 
trol of  all  the  resources  of  the 
country.  It  was  confidently  pre- 
dicted, therefore,  that  the  French 
would  either  never  effect  a  landing 


FRANCE. 


299 


or  if  ihey  did,  would  be  unable  to 
reach  Algiers  by  land.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  attack  should 
be  conducted  by  sea,  as  was  done 
by  the  English  under  Lord  Ex- 
mouth,  the  fleet,  they  said,  would 
have  to  encounter  a  thousand  dif- 
ficulties from  the  elements,  as  the 
blockading  squadron  had  already. 

And  after  all,  what  permanent 
good  would  be  accomplished  by 
the  bombardment  of  Algiers  ? 
The  Dey  would  be  reduced  to 
submission,  perhaps  killed  or  de- 
posed :  but  what  then?  A  horde 
of  pirates,  like  the  Barbary  cor- 
sairs, renegados  and  wild  Turks, 
without  principles,  calculation,  or 
public  responsibility,  could  not  be 
cured  of  their  lawless  habits  by 
the  same  remedies,  which  applied 
lo  the  European  Governments. 
So  that  France  was  about  to  lavish 
her  treasure  and  the  blood  of  her 
sons  upon  a  forlorn  and  chimeri- 
cal attempt,  which  had  no  better 
inducement  than  a  trifling  insult 
inflicted  on  a  French  consul,  who 
had  fairly  earned  it  by  his  imper- 
tinence. 

Such  was  the  cry  of  the  Paris 
newspapers  at  the  commencement 
of  the  preparations  ;  and  the  Eng- 
lish journals  kept  up  the  same 
croaking  tone  to  the  last,  for  rea- 
sons to  which  we  shall  presently 
advert.  But  the  French  changed 
their  tone,  when  they  found  how 
admirably  and  effectually  every- 
thing was  arranged  for  victory. 
The  opposition  then  began  to  re- 
proach the  Ministers  with  the  idle 
expense  of  such  profuse  and  ex- 
cessive preparations.  They  con- 
trasted the  materiel  of  this  expe- 
dition with  the  great  undertak- 
ings of  Napoleon,  —  scofiing  at 


the  inferiority  of  Bourmont,  who, 
instead  of  seeking  to  accomplish 
great  objects  by  the  powerful 
combinations  of  military  genius, 
had  trusted  nothing  to  skill,  or 
chance,  or  talent,  but  was  deter- 
mined to  crush  a  single  city  with 
mighty  forces  adequate  to  the 
subjugation  of  an  empire.  It  was 
apparent  that  the  Opposition  took 
a  double  pleasure  in  reflecting 
thus  upon  the  comparative  inferi- 
ority of  the  Bourbons  in  military 
fame ;  doing  it  both  to  annoy  the 
Ministers,  and  to  counteract  the 
impression  the  latter  had  expected 
to  make  on  the  popular  mind  by 
the  expedition,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  lower  and  degrade  the 
reigning  dynasty. 

To  most  of  these  biting  sar- 
casms on  their  measures  the  Min- 
isters made  no  other  reply,  than  to 
continue  their  preparations  on 
such  a  scale  as  at  all  events  to 
conquer.  This  they  were  deter 
mined  to  do,  whatever  might  be 
said.  But  to  another  part  of  the 
subject  they  gave  an  answer  of  a 
different  kind.  They  were  un- 
willing, it  seems  to  let  the  expe- 
dition rest  merely  on  the  ground 
of  a  blow  given  to  a  commercial 
agent,  — -  and  put  forth  an  elabo- 
rate declaration,  setting  up  a  long 
succession  of  wrongs  and  griev- 
ances as  the  permanent  justifi- 
catory causes  of  war.  They  al- 
leged, among  other  things,  that 
France  possessed  certain  qualifi- 
ed territorial  rights  by  a  compact 
older  than  the  Revolution,  and 
that  of  these  rights  the  French 
were  now  debarred  by  the  Dey. 
Spoliations  of  French  property  on 
the  high  seas,  of  course,  could  be 
found  at  any  time,  if  that  were 


^00 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


needed  as  cause  of  war  against 
Algiers.  But  the  Ministers,  not 
content  with  making  the  Dey  an- 
swerable to  France  for  his  acts 
against  the  French,  brought  for- 
ward another  ground  of  quarrel, 
in  the  depredations  of  Algerine 
corsairs  upon  property  of  subjects 
of  the  Papal  States;  —  which 
Charles  seemed  to  think  he  was 
called  upon  to  avenge  as  a  duty  of 
religion  to  the  head  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  In  short,  what  with 
the  unatoned  for  injuries  of  the 
last  three  years,  and  the  other 
grudges  of  an  older  date,  there 
was  certainly  no  want  of  good 
reasons  for  ihe  war,  considering 
the  subject  in  relation  to  the  na- 
tional honor  and  dignity  of  France. 
How  largely  it  served  her  interest 
the  result  will  show. 

At  length  all  the  forces  of  the 
expedition  were  assembled  in 
Toulon,  ready  for  departure.  The 
army  consisted  of  37,331  men,  of 
all  arms,  with  4,008  horses,  400 
large  transports  having  been  en- 
gaged for  the  conveyance  of  the 
troops,  horses,  munitions,  provis- 
ions, and  so  forth,  to  Africa.  — 
The  military  marine  was  not  less 
imposing,  being  composed  of  nine 
ships  of  the  line,  twentyfive  frig- 
ates, six  corvettes,  twentyfive 
brigs,  and  eight  steamboats,  be- 
sides bomb  vessels  and  others  of 
small  dimensions;  —  making,  to- 
gether with  the  troops,  a  total 
force  of  64,000  men.  This  mag- 
nificent fleet,  with  the  powerful 
armament  it  conveyed,  set  sail 
from  Toulon  on  the  25th  of  May, 
in  presence  of  vast  crowds  of 
spectators,  collected  on  the  heights 
to  view  the  splendid  spectacle. — 
The  first  division  of  the  fleet  came 


in  sight  of  the  coast  of  Africa  m 
five  days  afterwards ;  but  the  ships 
having  been  separated  by  a  storm, 
orders  were  given  to  sail  to  Palma 
in  Majorca,  the  place  provided  for 
rendezvous  in  anticipation  of  the 
event  which  had  occurred.  The 
expedition  setting  sail  again  the 
9th  of  June,  reached  the  coast  of 
Africa  on  the  13th,  and  proceed- 
ed five  leagues  west  of  Algiers  to 
the  bay  of  Torre  Chica  or  Sidi 
Ferruch,  which  had  been  select- 
ed as  the  place  of  disembarking. 
The  French  had  always  supposed 
that  they  should  find  the  coast  lin- 
ed with  troops  prepared  to  dispute 
their  landing  ;  and  they  expected 
this  from  a  consciousness  that  the 
enemy  might  easily  make  a  stand 
there  to  great  advantage.  But 
the  Dey  had,  in  the  blindness  of 
his  obstinacy,  calculated  other- 
wise ;  and  left  the  French  unmo- 
lested, at  the  very  time  when  his 
exertions  should  have  been  the 
greatest.    Early  on  the  14tb  the 
disembarkation  of  the  troops  and 
munitions  was  commenced,  and 
continued  without  interruption  un- 
til the  17th,  when  a  violent  tem- 
pest arose,  and  justified  a  singular 
precaution  taken  to  meet  such  a 
contingency.  The  packages,  sacks, 
barrels,  and  so  forth,  had  been 
covered  with  a  double  water  proof 
envelope,  so  that,  if  occasion  re- 
quired, they  might  be  thrown  into 
the  sea  and  washed  on  shore  by 
the  waves  uninjured.    The  plan 
was  put  in  operation  at  this  time 
with  the  happiest  efl^ect,  and  ena- 
bled the  army  to  receive  supplies 
from  the  fleet,  in  the  midst  of  a 
hurricane,  which  rendered  all  or- 
dinary communicatioii  with  the 
shore  utterly  impossible. 


FRANCE. 


301 


The  French  were  impatient  for 
action,  and  advanced  without  loss 
of  time  to  attack  a  body  of  the 
Dey's  troops,  which  was  entrench- 
ed at  Staonh,  about  midway  be- 
tween Sidi  Ferruch  and  Algiers. 
The  position  was  easily  carried, 
although  not  without  some  con- 
siderable loss  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed. Meanwhile  the  French  were 
obliged  to  wait  ten  days  for  the 
arrival  of  their  battering  train, 
preparatory  to  marching  on  the 
city  ;  and  they  were  attacked  in 
their  turn  on  the  24th.  On  this 
occasion  a  son  of  General  Bour- 
mont  received  a  dangerous  wound, 
of  which  he  afterwards  died.  In 
his  despatch  the  General  touch- 
ingly  alluded  to  this  event  in  the 
following  words  :  '  One  officer 
has  been  dangerously  wounded  : 
he  is  the  second  of  four  sons  who 
have  followed  me  to  Africa.  I 
hope  he  may  survive,  to  continue 
his  services  to  his  king  and  his 
country  —  Expressions  which 
are  said  to  have  drawn  tears  of 
unaffected  sensibility  from  the 
King.  For  several  days  the 
French  continued  to  suffer  from 
the  assaults  of  the  Turkish  and 
African  troops  ;  but  on  the  29th 
their  field-pieces  arrived,  and  they 
set  forward  to  the  attack  of  a  for- 
tress commanding  Algiers,  called 
the  Emperor's  Castle.  On  the 
30lh  of  June  the  trenches  were 
opened  ;  and  the  construction  of 
the  batteries  continued  from  the 
1st  to  the  3d  of  July.  During 
this  time  the  fleet  co-operated  by 
firing  upon  the  fortifications  con- 
tiguous to  the  sea,  so  as  to  afford 
the  Dey  employment  on  that  side, 
and  prevent  his  concentrating  all 
his  forces  for  the  defence  of  the 
26* 


Chateau  de  I'Empereur.  So 
much  despatch  was  used  by  the 
French  in  constructing  the  batte- 
ries, that  by  the  morning  of  the 
4th  everything  was  ready,  and  a 
fire  was  opened  on  the  enemy  at 
four  o'clock,  and  briskly  returned 
from  the  Castle  for  the  space  of 
four  hours,  after  which  the  fire  of 
the  latter  nearly  ceased.  At  ten 
o'clock  a  breach  was  effected  in 
the  defences  of  the  Castle,  and 
the  Turks  abandoned  it,  having 
first  taken  measures,  by  the  Dey's 
order,  to  set  fire  to  the  powder 
magazine,  which  exploded  with  a 
tremendous  crash,  blowing  up  a 
part  of  the  fortress,  and  filling  the 
air  with  flames,  dust,  and  stones. 
The  sound  was  heard  at  sea  to 
the  distance  of  sixty  miles,  and 
the  shock  filled  the  city  and  the 
fleet  with  consternation.  No  in- 
jury, however,  was  sustained  by 
the  besieging  troops,  which  im- 
mediately took  possession  of  the 
smoking  ruins,  and  thus  decided 
the  fate  of  the  city,  which  was 
now  completely  at  the  mercy  of 
the  French. 

Seeing  all  resistance  vain,  and 
only  calculated  to  produce  effu- 
sion of  blood,  and  the  inevitable 
destruction  of  the  city,  the  Dey 
sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  Admiral 
Duperre,  who  referred  him  to 
General  Bourmont  as  commander- 
in-chief.  The  proposition  was  to 
indemnify  France  for  the  expen- 
ses of  the  war,  and  to  restore  the 
possessions  claimed  by  her  on  the 
coast ;  but  General  Bourmont  cut 
short  all  negotiations  at  once,  by 
demanding  the  immediate  surren- 
der of  the  Casauba  or  Palace  of 
the  Dey,  the  fort,  and  all  the  for- 
tifications, and  assuring  the  roes- 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


senger  that  nothing  else  would 
save  the  city  from  bombardment 
by  sea  and  land.  Tlie  Dey  was 
not  long  in  agreeing  to  the  terms 
of  capitulation  offered  him,  and 
hostilities  were  suspended  until  the 
morning,  that  the  conditions  might 
bo  explained  to  his  council.  On 
the  5th  of  July,  accordingly,  the 
convention  was  ratified,  and  the 
French  took  quiet  possession  of 
Algiers.  The  Dey  was  allowed 
to  retire  with  his  family  and  private 
property,  to  any  place  out  of  Afri- 
ca that  he  might  select ;  as  also 
were  his  Turkish  militia;  and  the 
protection  of  the  French  was  as- 
sured to  them  all,  so  long  as  they 
remained  in  Algiers.  All  the 
other  inhabitants  of  the  Regency 
were  promised  security  for  their 
persons  and  property,  and  the 
unmolested  enjoyment  of  their  re- 
ligion ;  and  the  General  engaged 
upon  his  honor  to  respect  their 
women.  And  thus  the  whole  of 
Algiers,  after  having  so  long  been 
u  by-word  of  horror  throughout 
Christendom,  passed  quietly  un- 
der the  dominion  of  France. 

Exaggerated  reports  had  been 
current  respecting  the  treasure  of 
the  Regency,  which  rumor  had 
raised  to  the  sum  of  200,000,000 
of  francs;  and  immediate  search 
was  made  for  it  on  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  Casauba.  The  French 
were  greatly  disappointed  to  find 
only  48,684,527  francs  in  gold 
and  silver  bullion  or  coin,  and 
5,000,000  of  francs  in  merchan- 
dize ;  and  as  no  regular  accounts 
were  ke^pt  by  the  Dey,  it  was 
impossible  to  ascertain  how  much, 
if  any,  Irad  been  removed  or  se- 
creted. It  is  singular  that  noth- 
ing is  said  of  any  jewels  or  pre- 


cious stones  as  forming  part  of 
the  treasure ;  and  perhaps  the 
Dey  and  his  counsellors  took  care 
to  enrich  themselves  with  these 
more  portable  representatives  of 
wealth,  leaving  to  the  French  on- 
ly the  bulkier  riches  in  ingots  and 
merchandize.  In  addition  to  which, 
we  are  to  reckon  the  value  of  the 
shipping  and  munitions  of  war 
captured,  including  1542  pieces 
of  artillery,  and  we  shall  thus 
have  a  total  of  60,000,000  of 
francs,  as  the  whole  amount  of  the 
booty  obtained  in  Algiers.  This 
proved  amply  sufficient  to  defray 
all  the  expenses  of  the  expedition, 
leaving  the  acquisition  of  Algiers 
a  clear  gain,  in  addition  to  all  the 
honor  acquired  by  the  conquest, 
and  all  the  advantage  gained  by 
Europe  in  the  breaking  up  of  this 
great  resort  of  African  piracy. 

We  have  spoken  of  this  as  a 
conquest,  and  we  suppose,  nay 
we  sincerely  and  earnestly  hope, 
it  will  be  considered  and  retained 
as  such  by  France.  This  ques- 
tion occasioned  great  agitation  in 
that  country  previous  to  the  Three 
Days,  owing  to  the  reciprocal 
jealousy  of  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish nations.  The  rumor  gene- 
rally received  was,  that  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  had  demanded  ex- 
planations of  M.  de  Polignac  on 
this  point,  and  had  received  as- 
surances that  France  did  not 
contemplate  the  subjugation  of 
Algiers  with  a  view  to  retaining  it. 
No  doubt  can  be  entertained,  we 
presume,  that  such  assurances 
were  demanded  and  given.  If 
they  were,  it  only  serves  to  show 
the  pusillanimity  and  truckling 
spirit  of  Polignac,  or  rather  per- 
haps his  expectation  that  he  might 


FRANCE. 


303 


need  the  aid  of  Wellington  in 
furthering  the  arbitrary  designs  of 
the  King.  But  the  very  sugges- 
tion of  such  a  thing,  as  the  surren- 
der of  Algiers  in  the  event  of  its 
being  taken,  occasioned,  at  that 
time,  paroxysms  of  rage  and  in- 
dignation all  over  France.  What, 
said  they;  shall  England  go  on 
acquiring  one  kingdom  after  an- 
other by  force  or  fraud  in  Asia, 
by  mere  tricks  of  diplomacy, 
by  engaging  in  wars  of  conquest 
on  the  most  frivolous  pretexts, 
by  fomenting  disorders  in  the  bos- 
om of  independent  States,  and 
then  assisting  the  weaker  party 
with  her  arms  to  put  down  the 
stronger,  and  thus  usurping  the 
control  of  affairs,  in  short,  by  em- 
ploying every  instrument  of  art  or 
violence  to  bring  millions  after 
millions  within  the  sway  of  her 
already  overgrown  Indian  Em- 
pire ?  Can  England  do  this,  and 
shall  not  France  attack  the  out- 
laws of  Algiers  in  a  true  and  law- 
ful quarrel,  and  take  possession  of 
their  justly  forfeited  territory?  — 
England  is  continually  stretching 
her  chain  of  colonies  or  factories 
along  the  coasts  of  Africa,  where- 
ever  she  can  find  or  make  an 
opening,  and  has  obtained  by 
conquest  from  a  European  Stale  a 
vast  territory  of  indefinite  extent 
at  one  end  of  the  Continent ;  and 
must  France,  to  gratify  her  grasp- 
ing Ally,  condescendingly  decline 
to  plant  a  colony  at  the  other  ex- 
tremity of  it  ?  Nay,  should  Eng- 
land be  justified  in  gaining  pos- 
session of  Gibraltar,  Malta,  and 
the  Ionian  Isles,  and  thus  having  a 
line  of  strong  holds  as  it  were 
along  the  Mediterranean,  to  fur- 
nish her  with  means  of  annoyance 


and  vexation  to  the  Mediterrane- 
an Powers  ;  and  could  not  one  of 
those  very  Powers  themselves  ven- 
ture to  retain,  after  having  lawfully 
acquired,  a  single  new  possession 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterrane- 
an ?  These  were  the  questions 
everywhere  asked,  when  the 
subject  of  English  interference  in 
this  matter  was  agitated  ;  and  the 
French  had  ample  reason  to  speak 
in  the  language  of  resentment 
and  wounded  pride  ;  for  nothing 
could  exceed  the  tone  of  overween- 
ing self-sufficiency,  which  charac- 
terized the  remarks  of  some  of 
the  most  respectable  London 
journals  in  reference  to  the  Alge- 
rine  expedition,  except  the  similar 
tone,  which  journals  of  the  same 
political  class  are  prone  to  employ 
in  speaking  of  the  United  States^ 
The  simple  truth  is,  that  Eng- 
land has  imbibed  a  strange  idea^ 
that  no  Power  is  ever  to  extend 
its  possessions  excepting  herselL 
From  the  moment  the  expedhion 
to  Algiers  began  to  be  talked  of^ 
the  English  periodicals  displayed  a 
fidgety  anxiety  on  the  subject,  that 
would  have  been  ludicrous,  but 
for  the  unfair  spirit,  and  false  prin- 
ciples and  views,  which  it  betray- 
ed. Every  obstacle  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  war,  all  the  storms  of 
the  African  coast,  the  impractica- 
ble nature  of  the  country,  the 
amazing  strength  of  the  city  of 
Algiers,  with  dark  forebodings  as 
to  the  fate  of  the  poor  French- 
men, who  were  about  to  leave 
their  homes  to  perish  amid  the 
deserts  of  Barbary,  —  such  were 
the  constant  topics  of  the  English 
newspapers.  And  of  course,  they 
said,  France  would  not  presume  to 
think  of  making  a  permanent  con- 


304 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


quest ;  she  would  not  dare  without 
the  approbation  of  England  ;  and 
England  would  never  consent  that 
her  rival  should  make  any  territori- 
al acquisitions.  Perhaps  if  Charles 
X.  had  continued  in  power  he 
might  not  have  presumed  or  dared 
to  enjoy  the  advantages,  which 
a  righteous  cause  and  the  fortunes 
of  war  had  placed  in  his  hands. 
But  limes  are  now  changed  ;  and 
France,  probably,  would  no  more 
hear  to  any  remonstrances  of 
England  on  the  subject  of  Algiers, 
than  if  King  William  should  pro- 
pose to  reclaim  all  that  Henry  of 
Monmouth  gained,  or  his  son  lost, 
in  the  heart  of  France  itself.  — 
England  manifested  the  same 
weakness  of  nervous  irritability  in 
regard  to  our  acquisition  of  the 
Floridas ;  but  we  have  abided 
the  murmurings  of  her  journalists, 
with  as  little  scathe  as  they  have 
inflicted  on  the  French  in  regard 
to  Algiers. 

For  ourselves,  and  as  Ameri- 
cans, we  repeat  that,  in  our  con- 
ception, not  only  France  herself 
is  to  derive  advantage  from  her 
retaining  possession  of  the  whole 
territory  of  the  Regency,  and  col- 
onizing it  as  a  French  settlement, 
but  Africa  above  all  may  hail  it  as 
the  dawn  of  her  restoration  to  the 
advantages  of  civilization,  and  the 
world  in  general  have  a  right  to 
view  it  as  an  auspicious  event. 
It  may  excite  the  commercial 
jealousy  of  England,  who  is  not 
particularly  unwilling  to  have  the 
monopoly  of  all  foreign  markets, 
and  the  exclusive  privilege  of  es- 
tablishing colonies,  factories,  and  > 
military  posts  along  the  coasts 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  Africa  and 
America.    But  for  that  very  con- 


sideration it  is  important  to  us, 
and  to  all  other  commercial  na- 
tions, that  France  should  extend 
her  commerce  and  strengthen  her 
marine,  in  order  that  England 
may  never  again  recover  that 
overwhelming  maritime  ascenden- 
cy, which,  previous  to  the  last  war, 
encouraged  her  to  such  extraor- 
dinary abuse  of  power  in  the 
oppression  of  neutral  nations.  To 
those,  who  remember  the  nauti- 
cal history  of  England  for  the 
last  forty  years,  and  who  have 
observed  the  great  increase  and 
prosperous  condition  of  the  French 
military  marine  at  the  present 
time,  this  will  appear  to  be  no  un- 
important aspect  of  the  subject. 
And  the  advantage,  which  all 
mankind  are  to  derive  from  the 
seas  being  forever  cleared  of  the 
lawless  Barbary  cruisers  is  too 
evident  to  require  illustration  or 
proof. 

But  as  to  Africa,  so  long  given 
up  to  the  domination  of  roving  sav- 
ages, —  for  what  better  are  the 
wild  x\rabs  ?  —  so  long  known  to 
us  only  as  the  officina  servorum 
for  all  nations,  —  so  long  debar- 
red of  the  blessings  of  Christianity 
and  of  its  handmaiden  civilization, 
what  may  not  Africa  reasonably 
expect  from  the  establishment  of 
an  extensive  French  colony  upon 
her  Mediterranean  shore?  She 
may  look,  in  the  first  place,  to 
see  the  renovation  of  a  portion  of 
the  agricultural  wealth,  the  popula- 
tion, and  the  commerce  of  ancient 
Mauritania.  And  when  the  Nu- 
midians  have  been  tamed  by  the 
authority  of  France,  the  interior 
of  Africa  will  become  accessible 
to  the  researches  of  intelligence 
and  the  progress  of  improvement. 


FRANCE. 


305 


Hitherto  the  exertions  of  benefi- 
cence have  been  directed  to  the 
western  shores  of  Africa ;  and 
those  exertions  have  been  wasted 
in  vain  under  the  burning  skies 
of  the  line,  along  a  shore  fatal 
to  life  by  reason  of  the  deleteri- 
ous qualities  of  its  climate,  and 
amid  hostile  tribes  brulified  by 
the  effects  of  the  slave  trade.  In 
those   noxious  regions,  noxious 
both  morally  and  physically  speak- 
ing,  European   colonies  either 
perish  of  disease,  or,  like  some  of 
the  little  Portuguese  settlements, 
assume  the  hue  of  mind  and  al- 
most the  hue  of  body,  proper  to 
the  indigenous  races.    A  broad 
cordon  of  malignant  influences  of 
every  description  seems  to  be 
drawn   out  along  thi^  unhappy 
coast,  impenetrable  almost  to  the 
hopes  and  efforts  of  humanity. 
But  place  a  European  people  in 
Barbary,     and  circumstances 
change.    The  deserts  of  North- 
ern Africa  are  a  trifling  obstacle 
to  the  approaches  of  civilization 
towards  the  centre  of  the  Conti- 
nent, when  compared  with  the 
horrors  of  its  Atlantic  border. 
France  will  have  the  power,  from 
this  vantage  ground,  to  push  the 
innumerable  benefits  of  European 
refinement  into  the  heart  of  Afri- 
ca.   She  will  have  the  power, 
and  we  trust  she  will  have  the 
inclination,  to  do  all  this ;  but 
whether  she  has  the  inclination  or 
not,  if  she  retains  Algiers,  the 
mere  indirect  influence  of  her 
presence  cannot  fail  to  be  ser- 
viceable.   And  we  should  there- 
fore exhort  her  by  all  means  to 
make  good  her  footing  in  Al- 
giers, even  if  it  were  not  for  her 
own  great  and  immediate  advan- 
tage. 


And  judging  according  to  all 
the  ordinary  rules  of  human  ac- 
tion, it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that 
France  will  voluntarily  relinquish 
her  hold  on  a  conquest  fairly  ac- 
quired, and  which  it  is  for  the 
general   sjood  of  mankind  she 
should  retain,  when  the  strongest 
considerations  of  her  own  indi- 
vidual interest  are  in  unison  with 
everything  but  the  hypochondri- 
acal apprehensions  of  England. 
Here  is  a  rich  and  fertile  territo- 
ry, within  three  days'  sail  of  Mar- 
seilles, fitted  to  produce  all  those 
vegetable  treasures,  which  render 
the  West  Indies  such  a  mine  of 
wealth.    France  has  been  grad- 
ually stripped  of  one  colony  after 
another,  until  a  few  small  settle- 
ments in  America  are  nearly  all 
she  retains.    England  has  robbed 
her  of  her  colonial  possessions  m. 
the  Indian  seas,  and  of  the  Can- 
adas.    She  was  compelled  to  sell 
Louisiana  to  us  as  the  only  means 
of  rescuing  it  from  a  like  fate. 
Hayti  slipj^ed  off  her  authority 
during  one  of  the  fever  fits  of  the 
Revolution.    In  Algiers  she  may 
found  a  colony  calculated  in  some 
measure  to  indemnify  her  for  her 
manifold  losses  of  this  description. 
And  the  arrangements  begun  by 
General  Bourmont,  and  contin- 
ued by  his  successor.  General 
Clausel,  all  point  to  the  perma- 
nent possession  of  the  country. 
The  Dey  was  conveyed  to  Italy 
in  a  French  ship,  and  the  Turkish 
troops  were  also  removed  ;  the 
tributary  chiefs  and  local  govern- 
ors formerly  subject  to  the  Dey 
were  notified  that  the  French  had 
assumed  the  entire  authority  of 
their  late  master  ;  and  courts  of 
justice,  with  all  the  other  incidents 
of  regular  government,  were  es- 


306 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


tablisbed  in  due  form,  analagous 
to  the  practice  of  the  British  in 
Hindostan.  General  Clausel 
having  discovered  a  refractory 
disposition  in  the  Bey  of  Titery, 
a  valuable  dependency  of  Algiers 
situated  in  the  interior  of  the 
country  at  the  foot  of  Mount  At- 
las, very  speedily  brought  the 
Turk  to  reason  by  despatching 


against  him  a  body  of  French 
troops,  who  took  possession  of  his 
capital,  and  sent  him  prisoner  to 
France.  Everything,  in  fine, 
short  of  an  express  declaration  of 
their  purpose,  indicates  that  the 
Government  intend  to  consult  the 
wishes  of  the  whole  Nation,  in 
the  disposition  to  be  made  of  their 
new  conquest  in  Africa. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


FRANCE,  CONTINUED. 


Consequences  of  the  Fall  of  Algiers.  —  Ministerial  Arrangements. 
—  State  of  Parties.  —  The  Ordinances,  —  Their  Effect.  —  Pro^ 
test  of  Journalists.  —  State  of  the  Question.  —  Protest  of  the 
Deputies.  —  Police  Arrangements. 


Intelligence  of  the  capture 
of  Algiers  was  conveyed  to  Tou- 
lon in  about  sixty  hours  by  a 
steamboat,  and  thence  by  the  line 
of  telegraphs  to  Paris,  where  it 
arrived  on  the  9th  of  July.  The 
King  immediately  ordered  Te 
Deum  to  be  celebrated  throughout 
France,  and  he  himself  attended 
the  service  in  the  cathedral  church 
of  J^otre  Dame.  A  kind  of  ver- 
tiginous madness  appears  to  have 
seized  on  the  King,  the  Dauphin, 
and  the  Ministers,  from  that  hour. 
Elated  with  extravagant  feelings 
of  triumph,  they  deemed  them- 
selves sure  of  the  same  easy  vic- 
tory over  the  People,  that  they 
had  achieved  over  the  flying  Be- 
douins of  the  desert.  An  absurd 
confidence  in  the  support  of  the 
army,  an  almost  insane  audacity 
of  purpose,  an  extraordinary  de- 
lusion as  to  the  spirit,  and  temper, 
and  power  of  resistance,  and  or- 
ganization of  the  Nation,  all  con- 
spired to  hurry  on  the  weak  Prince 
and  his  headlong  advisers  to  swift 
destruction.  In  the  course  of  the 
four  or  five  days  which  followed 
the  arrival  of  the  news  from  Afri- 


ca, the  Ministers  wrought  up  their 
courage  to  the  requisite  degree 
of  strength,  on  the  faith  of  their 
late  success  in  war,  and  resolved 
upon  those  memorable  infringe- 
ments of  the  Charter,  which  were 
to  precipitate  the  King  from  his 
throne.  It  is  said  that  M.  Guer- 
non  de  Ranville  and  M.  de  Pey- 
ronnet  were  the  last  to  yield  their 
assent  to  the  meditated  coup  d^etat. 
They  had  confidence  in  their 
ability  as  public  speakers,  and 
were  long  disposed  to  try  the  ef- 
fect of  discussion  in  the  Chambers. 
But  M.  de  Polignac  proved  the 
evil  genius  of  the  Monarchy  ;  for 
he,  who  had  originally  been  alone 
in  the  nefarious  project  of  over- 
turning the  constitution,  now  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  all  his  asso- 
ciates into  the  views  of  himself, 
and  of  the  irresponsible  advisers, 
who  governed  the  King. 

If  they  had  been  a  revolutionary 
committee  of  old  regicides,  plot- 
ting the  assassination  of  Charles 
and  his  family,  they  could  not 
have  conducted  their  operations 
with  more  of  guilty  stealth  and 
elaborate  secrecy.    The  compo- 


308 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


sition  of  the  Ordinances,  and  of 
the  Report  to  the  King  or  justifi- 
catory memoir  by  which  they  were 
to  be  accompanied,  was  not  only 
executed  by  them,  but  even  all 
the  transcribing  was  performed 
by   them,  so  that  no  clerk  or 
amanuensis  should  have  it  in  his 
power  to  divulge  the  portentous 
mystery.  The  Nation  was  amus- 
ed with  the  most  earnest  assur- 
ances that  no  coup  d'etat  was  in- 
tended, no  violation  of  the  Char- 
ter, nothing  like  that,  which  was 
already  fully  decided  upon  and  ar- 
ranged in  all  its  details  ;  and  these 
assurances  were  even  extended 
to  the  foreign  Ambassadors,  who 
looked  with  natural  anxiety  on 
the  threatening  aspect  of  affairs. 
Nay,  if  rumor  may  be  credited, 
Baron  Rothschild,  who,  by  his 
connexion  with  the  public  stocks, 
had  a  more  direct  interest  in  the 
question  than  any  person  except 
the  Ministers  and  the  royal  fami- 
ly, was  tranquillized  by  M.  de 
Polignac  with  like  deceptive  de- 
clarations.   Letters  of  convoca- 
tion had  been  despatched  to  the 
Peers  and  Deputies,  summoning 
them  to  meet  the  3d  of  August. 
In  short,  a  system  of  elaborate 
Jesuitical  duplicity  and  falsehood 
was  adopted  by  these  royal  and 
noble  felons,  to  conceal  the  con- 
spiracy until  the  appointed  time 
arrived  for  exploding  their  *  in- 
fernal   machine.'  Fortunately 
they  cheated  and  deluded  them- 
selves even  more  than  they  did 
the  Nation,  and  thus  became  the 
.pitiable  victims  of  their  own  folly 
and  wickedness. 

In  reflecting  upon  the  events  of 
this  period,  it  seems  difficult  to 
understand    how  any  Ministers 


could  have  been  so  ignorant  of 
the  state  of  public  sentiment  in 
France.  The  subdivisions  of  the 
Nation  were  by  no  means  of  the 
same  kind  with  those  of  the 
Chambers.  Opinions,  to  be 
sure,  were  in  some  sense  repre- 
sented by  the  legislative  body  ; 
that  is,  individuals  could  be  found 
there  of  each  of  the  great  classes 
of  opinion,  which  divided  the 
Nation.  But  the  legislative  rep- 
resentation was  far  from  exact 
as  a  picture  of  the  relative  force 
of  each  party,  and  gave  no  suffi- 
cient indications  of  the  existence 
or  vigor  of  the  two,  which  to- 
gether comprised  a  majority  of 
the  People. 

First  there  were  the  Ultras, 
the  Emigres^  the  Jesuits,  the 
Church  and  King  party,  the  di- 
vine right  faction  :  for  faction  it 
well  deserved  to  be  called,  as 
well  in  regard  of  its  violence  as 
the  comparative  smallness  of  its 
numbers.  If  they  were  few  in 
number,  they  were  desperate  and 
uncalculating  in  policy,  reckless 
of  consequences  and  deaf  to  all 
argument  or  counsel.  They  had 
built  up  their  project  of  absolut- 
ism with  painful  industry,  and 
they  clung  to  it  with  inexpressi- 
ble obstinacy. 

You  might  as  well 
Forbid  the  sea  for  to  obey  the  moon, 
As  or  by  oath,  remove,  or  counsel  shake 
The  fabric  of  their  folly. 

They  blindly  pursued  their  infatu- 
ated course  on  the  very  brink  of 
the  precipice,  over  which  their 
party  could  not  fail  to  be  dashed 
to  atoms.  They  do  not  deserve 
to  be  ranked  with  the  genuine 
Royalists,   the    sensible,  clear- 


headed,  patriotic  friends  of  mon- 
archy, who  sought  in  vain  to  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  the  whole 
public  system.  These  last  were 
decidedly  attached  to  the  Bour- 
bons as  a  dynasty,  but  not  the 
less  hostile  to  the  Ultras,  who 
were  obviously  rushing  headlong 
upon  destruction,  and  hurrying 
the  King,  the  Charter,  and  them- 
selves into  one  common  ruin. 

There  was  a  name,  a  form,,  a 
memory,  which,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  reign  of  Charles,  dwelt 
upon  every  lip,  rose  before  every 
eye,  held  a  hallowed  spot  in  every 
bosom,  and  yet  was  proscribed 
by  the  Government  with  impotent 
fury  in  all  the  forms  of  petty  per- 
secution. That  name  belonged 
to  a  usurper,  —  perhaps  to  a  ty- 
rant, in  the  modern  as  well  as  the 
classical  interpretation  of  the 
word,  —  and  yet  his  form  was 
multiplied  in  every  work  of  art 
and  taste,  and  his  memory  iden- 
tified with  all  the  glories  and 
splendors  of  the  Revolution. 
Bonaparte  himself  was  no  more  ; 
the  '  Man'  had  perished  on  a 
desert  rock  in  the  midst  of  the 
ocean  ;  but  the  '  Son  of  the  Man' 
survived  ;  and  an  ague  fit  seemed 
to  seize  on  every  fibre  of  a  Bour- 
bon at  the  very  thought.  While 
the  inane  countenance  of  Charles 
Tenth  and  the  common  place  ac- 
tions of  his  family  were  woven  by 
authority  in  the  brilliant  threads  of 
the  Gobelin  looms,  or  fatigued 
the  pencil  of  Gerard  and  Gros ; 
while  Genius,  yielding  to  the 
voice  of  Power,  was  vainly  striv- 
ing to  immortalize  the  looks  of 
men,  who  possessed  an  irresistible 
innate  alacrity  for  sinking  into 
oblivion  ;  while  the  poor  King 
27 


^CE.  '  309 

was  laboriously  seeking  for  the 
honors  of  Art  by  the  liberal  use  of 
the  privy  purse,  —  the  inspired 
and  inspiring  features  of  Napole- 
on, and  the  achievements  of  his 
dazzling  career,  were  indepen- 
dent of  the  sickly  protection  of 
Government  patronage,  and  lived 
in  the  unbought  guardianship  of 
the  Nation.  The  Press  groaned 
with  histories,  memoirs,  anecdotes, 
disquisitions,  concerning  him  and 
his  life  ;  and  yet  the  supply  seem- 
ed to  fall  far  short  of  the  insatia- 
ble demand.  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
eulogy  on  his  character  was  de- 
nounced as  a  libel, — so  inade- 
quate did  its  praises  appear  to  the 
craving  admiration  of  the  reading 
world  in  France.  While  the 
Government  had  no  power  to 
check  ihe  activity  of  the  Press  in 
thus  affording  exciting  food  to  the 
popular  enthusiasm,  it  was  ren- 
dering itself  ridiculous  and  expos- 
ing its  imbecility  by  sending  po- 
lice officers  to  the  distilleries  of  eau 
de  cologne  with  orders  to  break 
the  bottles  moulded  in  Napoleon's 
form,  and  persecuting  the  paper 
stainers  who  adorned  the  hangings 
they  manufactured  with  such 
disagreeable  reminiscences  as  the 
bridge  of  Areola,  the  Simplon,  or 
the  Pyramids.  In  short,  it  need- 
ed but  a  careless  eye  to  see  that 
for  once  the  Government  had 
made  a  correct  observation  of  a 
fact.  Bonaparte's  was  the  popu- 
lar name,  the  concentration  of 
everything,  which  charmed  the 
populace  of  France.  It  would  be 
wrong  to  say  that  young  Napoleon 
had  a  visible  party ;  he  had  not ; 
but  the  name  was  a  magical  word  — 
a  potent  talisman  among  the  lower 
classes,  a  portion  of  the  soldiery, 


310 


ANNUAL   REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  disbanded  veterans,  some 
men  distinguished  in  civil  affairs, 
and  not  a  few  of  the  higher  mili- 
tary, who  had  grown  familiar  with 
victory  under  guidance  of  the  im- 
perial eagles.  But  numerous  as 
the  Bonapartists  undoubtedly 
were,  still  as  a  body  they  could  not 
be  considered  the  most  intelligent 
members  of  the  community.  Men 
of  liberal  views  in  matters  of 
Government  knew  that  his  policy 
was  that  of  concentration,  and  of 
course  adverse  to  freedom.  It 
was  among  the  Republicans  that 
the  active  wisdom,  talent,  and  en- 
ergy of  the  Nation  were  to  be 
found.  Here  were  the  men  of 
1789,  true  to  their  first  love  ;  the 
relics  of  the  exalted  spirits  of 
1793,  untamed  by  adversity, 
clinging  in  old  age  to  the  flattering 
visions  of  their  youth.  Above 
all,  here  were  the  educated-  and 
enlightened  men  of  the  present 
generation,  the  mind  of  young 
France,  animated  by  the  example 
of  the  United  States,  looking  to  that 
country  as  the  pattern  of  all  that 
is  perfect  in  the  theory  of  Govern- 
ment, all  that  is  useful  in  its  prac- 
tical application.  They  constitu- 
ted a  party,  —  a  powerful,  nu- 
merous, indefatigable  party, — 
ardently  attached  to  republican 
forms,  but  willing  to  dispense  with 
the  forms  if  they  could  make  sure 
of  the  substance  ;  temperate  and 
prudent  in  their  plans  as  they 
were  patriotic  in  their  feelings ; 
and  they  were  gradually  working 
the  regeneration  of  France  by 
preparing  her  to  be  fit  for  the 
blessings  of  liberty. 

In  such  a  condition  of  parties, 
what  were  the  indications,  which 
encouraged  the  Ministers  to  in- 


vade the  Charter  ?  We  know 
not,  and  they  cannot  tell,  where 
they  discovered  any  ground^  of 
confidence  whereon  to  proceed. 
A  free  Press  had  been  sounding 
the  tocsin  of  alarm  for  eleven 
months.  The  aristocracy  had  no 
power  as  such ;  for  none  could  it 
have  after  the  abolition  of  the 
rights  of  primogeniture.  The 
clergy  were  divided,  unpopular, 
and  without  influence.  A  vio- 
lent excitation  of  sentiment  per- 
vaded the  whole  country.  The 
elections  had  proved  the  force  of 
popular  right,  even  in  spite  of 
the  artificially  devised  system  of 
electoral  colleges.  All  men  felt 
ready  to  act  upon  the  maxims  and 
motto  of  a  patriotic  society,  which 
assumed  for  its  title  '  Aide  toi^  le 
Ciel  faidera.^  The  People  were 
conscious  of  their  rights,  confident 
in  their  power  to  sustain  them,  and 
ready  to  do  all  and  dare  all, 
rather  than  submit  to  any  arbi- 
trary acts  on  the  part  of  the  King. 

It  has  frequently  been  observed 
that  the  situation  and  character 
of  Charles  X.  of  France  were 
strikingly  similar  to  those  of  James 
n.  of  England.  M.  de  Polig- 
nac  might  have  taken  warning 
from  this  instructive  page  in  the 
history  of  princes,  when  he  saw 
the  readiness  of  the  people  to 
run  out  the  extraordinary  parallel 
to  its  consummation.  In  England 
Charles  I.,  by  singular  alterna- 
tions of  weakness  and  obstinacy, 
contributed  to  bring  on  the  revo- 
lution which  led  him  to  the  scaf- 
fold ;  and  in  France  Louis  XVI., 
wonderfully  like  Charles  in  his 
virtues  and  his  failings,  had  reach- 
ed the  same  result  by  the  same 
means.    In  France  as  in  England 


FRANCE. 


311 


wild  Utopian  schemes  of  Govern- 
ment, sanctioned  by  various  fac- 
tions, afterwards  agitated  a  coun- 
try given  up  to  the  usurpation  and 
tyranny  of  legislative  assemblies. 
The  dictatorship  of  Cromwell  fol- 
lowed in  England,  as  that  of  Na- 
poleon did  in  France,  the  military 
glory  and  personal  talents  of  these 
extraordinary  men  having  proved 
too  powerful  for  the  public  liber- 
ties, while  no  legitimate  monarch 
ever  reigned  with  greater  dignity, 
or  with  a  truer  perception  of  what 
the  internal  welfare  of  his  country 
required.  The  Restoration  came 
next ;  and  it  needs  only  the  same 
full  development  of  the  history  of 
Louis  XVIIL,  to  show  how  much 
the  one  voluptuary  resembled  the 
other  in  his  character  and  the 
policy  of  his  Government.  To 
each  a  brother  had  succeeded ; 
and  who  could  deny  that  Charles 
X.  was  the  very  double  of  James 
II.  The  same  weak  unreasoning 
obstinacy  impelled  each  to  at- 
tempt the  overturn  of  the  Consti- 
tution, which  he  was  sworn  to 
maintain.  Charles  X.  was  not 
yet  dethroned,  for  the  climax  of 
his  arbitrary  attempts  was  to  come. 
But  everybody  was  following  out 
the  analogy.  It  was  unfolded  in 
the  newspapers,  discussed  in  con- 
versation, present  to  every  mind. 
All  the  world  seemed  to  say  to  the 
King  ;  If  you  undertake  the  same 
enterprise,  you  must  expect  the 
same  fate ;  for  your  kinsman  of  Or- 
leans stands  ready  to  play  the 
idenUcal  part  here,  which  William 
of  Nassau  enacted  in  England. 

It  was  in  such  a  state  of  parties, 
in  a  crisis  like  this,  when  the 
whole  Nation  was  expecting  oc- 
casion for  oppugnation  and  pre- 


paring to  display  it,  that  Charles 
undertook  to  assume  the  swelling 
port  of  absolute  power.  To  the 
only  faithful  counsellors  of  his 
family,  he  seems  to  have  held  the 
obsolete  doctrines  of  Leontes, 
forgetting  that  this  was  the  age  of 
revolutions,  consthutions,  and 
equal  rights,  and  not  that  of  the 
jus  divinum  ; 

Why  need  we 
Commune  with  you  of  this  ?  Nor  rather 
follow 

Our  forceful  instigation  !  Our  preroga- 
tive 

Calls  not  your  counsel ;  but  our  natural 

goodness 

Imparts  this;  —  which,  if  you,  or  stupe- 
fied. 

Or  seeming  so  in  skill,  cannot  or  will 
not, 

Relish  as  truth,  like  us,  —  inform  your- 
selves 

We  need  no  more  of  your  advice  ;  —  the 
matter, 

The  loss,  the  gain,  the  ord'ring  on't,  is 
all 

Properly  ours. 

No  reasoning,  in  fact,  could 
turn  back  a  man,  who  had  acquir- 
ed the  obstinacy  of  anility  without 
its  miitur-ity  of  wisdom  or  discre- 
tion of  character.  A  brilliant 
levee  was  holden  at  Saint  Cloud 
on  Sunday,  the  25th  of  July,  at 
which  the  members  of  the  Cabi- 
net, the  corps  diplomatique ,  and 
the  habitues  of  the  royal  saloon, 
assembled  for  the  last  time  to 
grace  the  Court  of  Charles 
Tenth.  Those  who  were  in  the 
secret  of  the  meditated  coup  d^etat 
carefully  disguised  their  feelings 
under  a  cheerful  exterior  ;  and 
the  great  body  of  courtiers  felt 
easy  amid  the  assurances,  direct 
and  indirect,  which  were  holden 
out  to  them  by  the  parties  to 
the  conspiracy.  The  famous  Or- 
dinances were  signed  on  the  same 


312 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


day,  after  the  close  of  the  levee, 
and  carried  to  Paris  by  one  of  the 
Ministers  to  be  inserted  in  the  next 
Moniteur.  The  Keeper  of  the 
Seals  himself,  M.  Chanielauze, 
who  had  drawn  up  the  Report  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken, 
sent  for  M.  Sauvo,  the  conductor 
of  the  Moniteur,  to  receive  the 
Ordinances  for  publication.  M. 
Sauvo  found  M.  de  Montbel  with 
M.  Chantelauze,  the  two  Minis- 
ters both  exhibiting  the  greatest 
dejection  in  their  manner ;  and 
he  did  not  disguise  from  them  his 
own  consternation,  when  he  came 
to  understand  the  nature  of  the 
Ordinances."^' 

Of  these  Ordinances  one  sus- 
pended the  liberty  of  the  Press, 
another  annulled  the  election  of 
the  Deputies,  and  a  third  arbitra- 
rily changed  the  constitution  of 
the  future  Chambers.  The  Or- 
dinance relative  to  the  Press  con- 
sisted of  nine  articles,  which  plac- 
ed all  the  journals,  of  whatever 
kind,  under  the  strict  surveillance 
of  the  Police,  so  that  no  periodi- 
cal writing  should  appear  without 
authorization,  to  be  renewed  every 
three  months',  and  liable  at  any 
time  to  be  revoked  or  suspended. 
Had  these  provisions  been  consti- 
tutional in  form,  they  would  have 
been  oppressive  to  the  last  degree  ; 
but  as  the  Charter  assigns  the 
regulation  of  the  Press  to  the  laws 
that  is,  the  concurrent  acts  of  the 
King  and  the  two  Chambers,  this 
Ordinance  was  a  palpable  viola- 
tion of  the  Charter. 

The  second  Ordinance  is  brief 
and  pithy.  After  setting  forth  as 
a  preamble  the  '  Being  informed 


of  the  manoeuvres,  which  have  been 
practised  in  various  parts  of  the 
Kingdom  to  deceive  and  mislead 
the  electors  during  the  late  ope- 
rations of  the  Electoral  Colleges,' 
it  merely  ordains  that  '  The 
Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Depart- 
ments is  dissolved.^  Such  are  the 
words  used,  but  they  are  alto- 
gether false  and  deceptive.  No 
Chamber  of  Deputies  then  exist- 
ed. Individuals  had  been  elect- 
ed to  be  members  of  a  future 
Chamber  hereafter  to  be  organiz- 
ed ;  but  as  yet  there  was  no 
Chamber.  The  words  of  the 
Ordinance,  to  speak  the  exact 
truth,  should  have  been :  '  The 
late  elections  of  Deputies  of  De- 
partments are  annulled  ;'  —  for 
this  and  this  only  was  what  the 
Ordinance  did,  under  the  jesuiti- 
cal  pretence  of  exercising  a  con- 
stitutional power  to  dissolve  the 
Chambers. 

To  comprehend  the  remaining 
Ordinance  it  is  necessary  to  call 
to  mind  the  actual  and  past  state 
of  the  laws  for  the  choice  of 
Deputies.  The  Charter  provides 
that,  '  The  Chamber  of  Deputies 
shall  be  composed  of  Deputies 
elected  by  Electoral  Colleges,  the 
organization  of  which  shall  be  de- 
termined by  the  laws'  (art.  35) ; 
and  that  '  Each  Department  shall 
have  the  same  number  of  Depu- 
ties that  it  has  had  until  the  present 
time^  (art.  36).  Previous  to  the 
law  of  June,  1820,  the  number  of 
Deputies  had  been  25S,  all  re- 
turned by  Electoral  Colleges,  of 
which  there  was  but  one  for  each 
Department,  and  consisting  of 
the  whole  body  of  qualified  elec- 


For  Ordinances,  vide  second  pait,  page  180. 


FRANCE. 


313 


tors,  voting  altogether,  or  in  sec- 
tions, according  to  circumstances 
(Loi  5  Fevrier,  J  8 17).  After  a 
few  years'  trial  of  this  system,  it 
appeared  to  operate  too  favorably 
for  the  democratic  principle,  and 
the  Ministers  devised  the  inge- 
nious legerdemain  of  the  double 
vote,  of  which  we  have  before 
spoken,  to  augment  the  power  of 
the  aristocracy  (Loi  29  Juin, 
1820).  The  Electoral  Colleges 
already  subsisting  were  suffered  to 
remain  in  substance,  with  the 
right  of  returning  the  258  old 
members  as  before,  only  di- 
vided into  permanent  sections, 
called  Colleges  of  Arrondisse- 
ments.  At  the  same  time  172 
new  members  were  added,  to  be 
chosen  by  bodies  called  Depart- 
mental Colleges,  composed,  says 
the  law,  '  of  the  electors  paying 
the  highest  tax  in  number  equal 
to  the  fourth  part  of  all  the  elec- 
tors in  the  Department'  (art.  2). 
These  172  Deputies,  be  it  ob- 
served, were  created  by  a  minis- 
terial manceuvre  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  giving  the  nomination  of 
two  fifths  of  all  the  members  to  a 
select  body  of  the  aristocracy,  in 
the  hope  that  a  small  portion  at 
least  of  the  other  three  fifths 
would  continue  favorable  to  the 
court-party,  so  as  thus  permanent- 
ly  to  secure  a  majority  to  the 
Ministers.  Of  course,  this  addi- 
tion to  the  Chamber  and  the 
mode  of  electing  the  additional 
members,  had  always  been  ve- 
hemently censured  by  the  liberal 
party,  whose  influence  was  thus 
greatly  abridged.  One  thing 
more  is  to  be  remarked,  namely, 
that  the  members  of  the  elective 
Chamber  are  in  the  language  of 
27* 


the  Charter  styled  '  Deputies  of 
Departments'  (art.  50).  This 
expression  would  seem  to  be  the 
true  legal  demomination  for  all 
the  Deputies  collectively  ;  and  it 
is  thus  applied  even  in  the  Ordi- 
nance of  July  25th,  for  dissolving 
the  Chamber. 

We  have  premised  these  ex- 
planations in  order  that  our  read- 
ers may  fully  understand  the 
mingled  meanness,  effrontery,  and 
tyranny  of  the  Ordinance  relative 
to  the  elections.  It  begins  by 
providing  that,  '  Conformably  to 
the  articles  15,  36,  and  50  of  the 
Constitutional  Charter,  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  shall  consist  only 
of  Deputies  of  Departments'  (art. 
1);  and  that  each  Department 
shall  have  the  number  of  Depu- 
ties allotted  to  it  by  the  36th  arti- 
cle of  the  Constitutional  Charter' 
(art.  3.)  Such  are  the  very 
terms  of  the  Ordinance ;  and 
when  we  come  to  render  these 
cabalistical  phrases  into  something 
more  intelligible  to  us  vulgar  sub- 
lunary mortals,  it  will  be  admit- 
ted, we  think,  that  M.  de  Peyron- 
net,  the  author  of  this  Ordinance, 
had  practised  very  diligently  upon 
the  maxim  of  the  honest  diplo- 
matist, who  defined  words  to  be 
'  instruments  employed  for  con- 
cealing one's  meaning.'  The  sig- 
nification of  the  latter  article  is, 
'  Henceforth  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  shall  contain  but  258 
members  ;'  thus  repealing  the  law 
of  June,  1820.  The  signification 
of  the  other  article  is  equally  ab- 
struse and  recondite,  and  is  veiled 
in  a  most  contemptible  quibble. 
If  the  sentence  had  been  worded 
in  the  simplicity  and  directness 
of  an  honest  purpose,  it  would 


314 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


have  been,  *  Henceforth  the 
Deputies  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
Departmental  Colleges  alone.' 
The  singular  phraseology  actually 
employed  was  adopted  in  a  spirit 
of  low  cunning,  in  order  to  have 
it  seem  that  the  Ordinance  was 
but  a  restoration  of  the  Charter. 
So  far  as  regarded  the  number  of 
Deputies  contemplated  by  the 
Ordinance  it  was  indeed  a  return 
to  the  Charter;  but  if  the  172 
new  members  elected  under  the 
Jaw  of  1820  were  all  unconstitu- 
tional, by  whom  were  they  intro- 
duced and  for  what  purpose? 
Were  they  not  the  creation  of  the 
Government  ?  Was  not  their  cre- 
ation a  mere  trick,  a  device,  a 
far-fetched  expedient,  to  enable 
the  Government  to  return  mem- 
bers favorable  to  themselves,  out  of 
the  ranks  and  by  the  votes  of  the 
high  aristocracy  alone  ?  But  what 
right  had  M.  de  Peyronnet  to  as- 
sert, as  he  impliedly  did,  that  the 
Deputies  chosen  by  the  Colleges 
of  Arrondissements,  that  is,  by  the 
whole  body  of  electors,  were  not 
Deputies  of  Departments  within 
the  true  intent  of  the  Charter? 
'  He  undertakes  virtually  to  afhrm 
that  none,  but  Deputies  chosen  by 
the  newly  invented  Colleges  of 
June,  1820,  are  Deputies  in  any 
sense,  and  by  force  of  this  notable 
discovery  disfranchises  at  once  all 
those  electors,  who  under  the 
law  of  1817  voted  ehher  in  the 
mass  or  in  sections,  and  under  the 
law  of  J  820  were  permanently 
organized  into  sections.  The 
whole  electoral  power  was  thus 
thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  fa- 
mous '  fourth  part,'  —  les  electeurs 
les  plus  imposes,  —  nothing  being 
assigned  to  the  other  three  fourths 
but  the  right  of  nominating  a  list 


of  candidates,  out  of  whom  the 
*  fourth  part'  should  choose  half 
the  Deputies. 

The  Ordinance,  of  course, 
never  took  effect,  and  therefore 
is  only  important  in  a  histori- 
cal point  of  view.  It  was  illegal 
in  the  same  way  the  others  were, 
inasmuch  as  it  did  that  by  royal 
decree,  which  according  to  the 
Charter  could  only  be  done  by 
enacted  laws.  It  operated  in 
fact  a  total  change  of  the  whole 
constitution  of  the  Chambers. 
We  have  taken  pains  to  give  a 
just  account  of  the  mode  in  which 
it  was  devised,  because  this  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  well  un- 
derstood out  of  France,  and  could 
not  be,  indeed,  without  careful 
examination  of  the  pre-existing 
laws  on  the  subject.  We  should 
add  that  another  Ordinance  con- 
voked the  Electoral  Colleges  ac- 
cording to  the  new  system,  and 
appointed  a  meeting  of  the  new 
Chambers  that  were  to  be  thus 
imconstituiionally  elected,  for  the 
28th  of  September. 

When  these  ordinances  appear- 
ed in  the  Moniteur,  and  began  to 
be  generally  known,  as  they  were 
read  in  the  gardens.  Cafes  and 
Cabinets  de  Lecture^  nothing  could 
exceed  the  consternation  they 
universally  occasioned.  People 
in  general  had,  perhaps,  been  lull- 
ed into  comparative  tranquillity, 
supposing  that  the  great  struggle 
would  not  take  place  until  after 
the  I'egular  meeting  of  the  Cham- 
bers. They  supposed  it  would 
be  so,  because  they  presumed  the 
King  would  act  with  some  degree 
of  discretion,  and  they  saw  the 
manifest  advantage  to  him  in  hav- 
ing the  crisis  deferred  until  the 
Chambers  should  take  some  step 


PRANCE. 


315 


of  a  violent  or  unreasonable  char- 
acter, so  as  to  give  a  color  of 
necessity  to  his  arbitrary  designs, 
and  thus  make  sure  of  the  sym- 
pathies of  Europe.  They  sup- 
posed it  would  be  so,  because 
they  saw  no  token  of  preparation, 
on  the  part  of  the  Ministers,  to 
encounter  a  popular  movement. 
And  they  were  astounded  at  the 
profligate  audacity  of  the  Minis- 
ters, in  thus  rooting  up  all  the 
dearest  bulwarks  of  the  Charter 
at  once,  and  in  a  manner  as  in- 
sulting to  the  sense  of  the  Nation, 
as  it  was  destructive  of  their  liber- 
ties. But  indignation,  a  deter- 
m»  mination  to  make  a  stand  for  their 
rights,  desire  of  organization,  and 
a  looking  around  for  means  of  re- 
sisting the  Government,  soon  took 
the  place  in  the  minds  of  all  men, 
of  the  stupor  and  amazement  of 
the  first  impression.  The  leading 
spirits  saw  that  it  was  a  crisis  for 
boldness  not  for  caution  ;  for  ac- 
tion, not  for  deliberation.  The 
casus  belli  had  arrived.  If  a  sin- 
gle encroachment  on  the  Charter 
had  come  at  a  time,  the  liberals 
might  have  doubted  and  reasoned 
and  calculated,  and  waited  for  the 
next  blow,  before  making  a  de- 
monstration themselves ;  but  here 
was  a  sheet  of  the  Moniteur, 
abolishing  the  Charter  as  it  were 
in  a  paragraph,  —  here  were  the 
guarantees  of  the  public  liberty 
clashed  out  at  once  by  a  single 
bold  sweep  of  the  ministerial 
sponge  : — and  the  emergency  left 
no  alternative  to  the  Nation  but 
slavery  or  civil  war.  They  could 
not  hesitate  which  to  choose. 

Paris  contains  an  extraordina- 
ry proportion  of  intelligent  resi- 
dents, who,  by  education,  taste,  or 


principle,  have  always  been  zeal^ 
ous  friends  of  the  popular  cause. 
Vast  numbers  of  schools  and  col- 
leges frequented  by  ardent  young 
men  thrown  loose  from  the  re- 
straints of  domesticity,  have  at  all 
times  furnished  busy  agents  in  the 
political  movements  of  this  re- 
markable city.  A  spirit  of  liberty 
was  a  distinguishing  trait  of  the 
great  scholars  and  writers,  who 
gave  celebrity  to  the  literary  de- 
partments of  the  seminaries  of 
education,  to  which  we  refer. — * 
Cultivators  of  the  fine  arts,  men 
of  letters  by  profession,  from  the 
humbler  writers  for  the  daily 
Press  or  the  stage,  up  to  the 
great  names  of  the  Institute,  a 
host  of  men  connected  with  the 
professions  of  medicine  and  lawy 
—  in  short,  most  of  those,  who 
depended  upon  the  culture  of  their 
understandings  for  subsistence  or 
for  fame,  were  as  a  matter  of 
course  opposed  to  the  policy  of 
the  Government.  It  would  be  in- 
structive to  inquire  why  it  is  that, 
in  France,  the  intellectual  classes 
are  so  generally  found  on  the  side 
of  the  public  rights.  An  Ameri- 
can would  feel  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  it  was  the  homage  of 
reason  to  the  cause  of  liberty ;  a 
French  Ultra  would  be  driven  ai 
least  to  admit  that  the  Bourbons 
must  have  played  the  game  of 
despotism  badly,  to  have  driven 
from  them  all  the  enthusiastic 
hearts,  all  the  brilliant  geniuses, 
all  the  cultivated  minds  of  a  Na- 
tion, which  had  nearly  worshipped 
the  iron  sceptre  of  Napoleon. 
But  remarkable  as  it  is  that  a  vast 
majority  of  the  classes  we  have 
described  should  have  been  found 
ripe  for  Revolution,  it  is  more  so 


316 


ANNUAL    REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  the  great  proprietors,  the  ex- 
tensive manufacturers,  the  wealthy 
capitalists,  should  have  embraced 
the  same  cause,  with  a  certainty 
of  encountering  great  hazards  in  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view,  and  the 
probability  of  sustaining  immense 
losses.  Such,  however,  was  un- 
doubtedly the  fact ;  and  when  we 
add  to  the  individuals  already  de- 
signated, the  commis,  the  disband- 
ed soldiers  of  other  days,  and  so 
forth,  men  who  are  generally 
better  informed  than  the  ordinary 
bourgeois  of  a  European  city, 
we  shall  find  a  most  imposing  ag- 
gregate of  intelligence  on  the  side 
of  the  popular  interest  at  this 
emergency,  without  reckoning 
those  veteran  politicians  by  pro- 
fession, who,  in  the  Chambers  or 
elsewhere,  fixed  the  attention  of 
all  France. 

The  publication  of  the  Ordinan- 
ces was  the  signal  to  the  trusted 
men  of  the  liberal  party  to  confer 
on  the  measures,  which  it  behov- 
ed them  to  adopt  in  self-defence. 
Fortunately  they  possessed  means 
of  organization,  which,  if  less  per- 
fect than  the  catenation  o^bureaux 
by  which  the  Government  were 
accustomed  to  act,  were  yet  suffi- 
ciently complete  for  all  the  pur- 
poses of  the  occasion.  Many  of 
the  Deputies  were  already  in 
Paris,  either  because  they  resided 
there,  or  as  having  arrived  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  coming  session. 
Couriers  were  despatched  into 
the  country  to  General  La  Fay- 
ette, M.  Lafitte,  and  other  influ- 
ential men,  who  were  near  enough 
to  be  accessible.  It  is  said  that 
patriotic  societies  facilitated  the 
adoption  of  concerted  measures, 
some  of  these  societies  being  pub- 


lic, such  as  the  association  called 
*  Aide  toi,  le  Ciel  I'aidera,'  formed 
to  aid  the  liberal  party  in  the  late 
elections;  —  others  of  a  secret 
nature,  which  had  been  aiming  at 
higher  objects,  and  had  veiled 
their  very  existence  in  mystery  to 
avoid  the  visitation  of  the  laws. 
We  know  not  how  far  the  events 
of  the  Three  Days  may  have  been 
planned  and  settled  beforehand  by 
the  leading  liberals ;  but  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  resis- 
tance was  deliberately  decided 
upon,  and  all  feasible  means 
adopted  to  make  that  resistance 
effectual.  If  the  liberals  actually 
possessed  the  Comite  Directeur, 
which  afflicted  the  wiseacres  of 
the  Q^uotidienne  so  much,  now 
certainly  was  the  time,  and  here  the 
proper  sphere  for  calling  all  its  en- 
ergies into  action.  We  shall  see 
hereafter  that  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  party  did  not  shrink 
from  any  responsibility,  which 
armed  resistance  to  the  Govern- 
ment might  involve. 

On  Monday,  however,  little 
occurred  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 
Ministers  to  the  fatal  step  they  had 
taken.  The  Government  neither 
saw  nor  anticipated  the  civil  war, 
that  was  to  burst  upon  them  the 
next  day.  Disturbances,  groups 
of  obstreperous  students,  possibly 
a  fusillade  of  the  mob,  —  they 
deemed  this  the  utmost  that  could 
occur.  But  they  strangely  mis- 
calculated the  character  of  the 
hour.  Unfortunately  for  the 
Government,  the  enterprise  and 
capital  of  the  country,  as  we  have 
just  remarked,  ranked  with  the 
liberal  party.  So  much  of  that 
enterprise  and  that  capital,  as  was 
embarked  in  newspapers  or  print- 


FRANCE. 


317 


ing  establishments  of  any  kind, 
felt  the  illegal  acts  of  the  Govern- 
ment directly.  The  Ordinance 
relative  to  the  Press  was  impor- 
tant, as  an  invasion  of  the  right  of 
publishing  opinions  given  by  the 
Charter ;  but  it  was  also  impor- 
tant, as  destructive  to  a  large  and 
profitable  branch  of  industry. 
The  printers,  and  other  workmen 
connected  with  the  Journals,  were 
at  once  stripped  of  employment 
by  the  Ordinance,  and  let  loose 
upon  society  ready  for  any  des- 
perate act.  '  My  friends,'  said 
one  of  the  great  publishers,  '  the 
Press  is  abolished  today  ;  I  can- 
not give  you  work  any  longer  ;  go 
ask  it  from  your  good  King.^ 
But  the  situation  of  the  printers, 
thus  sent  abroad  into  the  streets 
upon  a  terrible  mission  of  insur- 
rection, exhibited  only  a  small 
part  of  the  evil.  Either  from  a 
just  apprehension  of  the  effect  of 
the  Ordinances,  or  on  purpose  to 
foment  disorder,  discounts  at  the 
Bank  were  stopped,  and  the  great 
manufacturers  dismissed  their 
workmen  and  shut  up  their  estab- 
lishments, probably  giving  to  their 
workmen  the  same  consolatory 
advice,  which  the  printers  had  re- 
ceived. Now  when  we  consider 
that  Paris  and  its  faubourgs  con- 
tains a  numerous  manufacturing 
population,  we  shall  estimate  the 
revolutionary  force,  which  a  sud- 
den unforeseen  cessation  of  all 
work,  occasioned  by  an  illegal  act 
of  the  Government,  must  place  in 
the  hands  of  agitators  ;  and  by 
such  men  we  shall  see  it  was  that 
the  battle  of  the  Three  Days  was 
fought.  But  the  unarmed  mobs, 
which  alone  appeared  in  Paris  on 
Monday,  although  they  commit- 


ted outrages,  upon  the  Hotel  of 
Foreign  Affairs  on  the  Boulevards, 
where  M.  de  Polignac  resided, 
and  upon  the  Hotel  of  the  Minis- 
ter of  Finance,  occasioned  so  lit- 
tle serious  anxiety,  that  the  King 
and  the  Dauphin  went  to  Ram- 
bouillet  to  hunt  the  next  day,  as  if 
nothing  peculiar  had  transpired. 

Meanwhile  the  editors  of  pub- 
lic journals,  — on  whom  the  hand 
of  despotism  had  fallen  more  im- 
mediately, —  whose  property  was 
abolutely  annihilated  by  an  arbi- 
trary decree  of  the  Government, 
—  performed  an  act  of  indepen- 
dence and  patriotism,  called  for 
to  be  sure  by  the  circumstances  of 
the  case,  but  still  every  way  hon- 
orable to  the  parties.  A  portion 
of  them  having  conferred  togeth- 
er, agreed  upon  a  joint  Protest, 
against  the  unconstitutional  Ordi- 
nances. This  remarkable  paper, 
which  is  dated  July  26th,  and 
originally  made  its  appearance  in 
the  JVational,  is  not  only  interest- 
ing in  respect  of  its  effect  at  the 
time,  but  also  as  presenting  a  con- 
densed view  of  the  legal  objec- 
tions to  the  Ordinances ;  and  we 
therefore  transfer  it  to  our  col- 
umns entire,  as  follows  : — 

'  It  has  been  repeatedly  announced 
within  the  last  six  months,  that  the  laws 
would  be  violated,  that  a  coup  d'dtat 
would  be  struck.  The  good  sense  of  the 
public  refused  to  believe  it.  Ministers 
repelled  the  supposition  as  a  calumny. 
Nevertheless,  the  Moniteur  has  at  last 
published  those  memorable  Ordinances, 
which  are  the  most  daring  violation  of 
the  laws.  Legal  government  is  there- 
fore interrupted,  and  that  of  force  has 
commenced. 

'  In  the  situation  wherein  we  are  pla- 
ced, obedience  ceases  to  be  a  duty.  The 
citizens,  who  are  first  called  upon  to 
obey,  are  Editors  of  Journals :  it  devolves 
on  them  to  give  the  first  example  of  re- 
sistance to  authority,  which  has  diyesteci 


318  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


itself  of  a  legal  character.  The  reasons , 
on  which  they  rely  are  such,  that  sim- 
ply to  state  them  suffices.. 

*  The  mattersj  to  which  the  Ordinan- 
ces promulgated  this  morning  relate,  are 
among  those  whereon  the  royal  authority 
has  no  power,  according  to  the  Charter, 
to  decide  alone.  The  Charter  declares 
(Art.  8)  that  the  French,  in  affairs  of  the 
Press,  shall  conform  themselves  to  the 
laws  ;  it  does  not  say,  to  ordinances. — 
The  Charter  says  (Art.  35)  that  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Electoral  Colleges  shall 
be  regulated  by  laws  ;  it  does  not  say  by 
ordinances. 

*  Hitherto  the  Crown  itself  has  recog- 
nised these  articles:  It  has  never  thought 
of  arming  itself  against  them,  either  with 
a  pretended  constituent  power,  or  with 
the  power  falsely  attributed  to  Art.  14. 

In  fact,  at  all  times  when  circumstan- 
ces of  an  alleged  serious  nature  have 
seemed  to  the  Crown  to  demand  modifi- 
cations either  in  the  administration  of  the 
Press  or  in  the  electoral  system,  it  has 
had  recourse  to  the  two  Chambers.  — 
When  it  was  deemed  requisite  to  modify 
the  Charter,  in  order  to  establish  the 
septennial  election  and  integral  renewal 
of  Deputies,  the  Crown  had  recourse  not 
to  itself  as  the  author  of  the  Charter, 
but  to  the  Chambers. 

'  Royalty,  therefore,  has  of  itself  re- 
cognised and  acted  upon  these  articles  8 
and  3-5,  and  has  not  arrogated,  with  res- 
pect to  these,  either  a  constituent  au- 
thority, or  a  dictatorial  authority  which 
nowhere  exists. 

The  tribunals,  which  have  a  right  of 
interpretation,  have  solemnly  acknow- 
ledged the  same  principles.  The  Cour 
Royale  of  Paris  condemned  the  publish- 
ers of  the  Breton  Subscription  as  authors 
of  an  outrage  on  the  Government.  It 
considered  the  supposition,  that  Govern- 
ment would  employ  the  authority  of  or- 
dinances where  the  authority  of  law 
only  is  admissible,  as  an  outrage. 

^  Thus  the  formal  texts  of  the  Charter, 
the  practice  hitherto  followed  by  the 
Crown.and  the  decisions  of  the  tribunals, 


all  establish,  that  in  things  affecting  the 
Press  and  the  electoral  organization,  the 
laws  alone,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  King 
and  the  Chambers  —  can  have  power  to 
determine. 

'  Today,  then,  the  Government  has 
violated  legality.  We  are  dispensed 
from  yielding  it  obedience.  We  shall 
endeavor  to  publish  our  papers  without 
asking  the  authorization  required  of  us. 
We  shall  use  all  possible  exertions  that 
today  at  least,  they  shall  be  delivered  to 
all  France.  This  is  what  our  duty  as 
citizens  requires,  and  we  shall  fulfil  it. 

'  It  is  not  for  us  to  point  out  to  the 
Chamber,  illegally  dissolved,  the  duties 
which  it  has  to  perform.  But  we  may 
be  permitted  to  supplicate  the  Deputies 
in  the  name  of  France,  to  rest  on  their 
evident  right,  and  to  resist  with  all  their 
power  the  violation  of  the  laws.  Their 
right  is  as  clear  as  that  whereon  we 
stand.  The  Charter  declares  (Art.  50) 
that  the  King  may  dissolve  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  ;  but  that  he  may  do  this 
it  is  necessary  the  Chamber  should  have 
been  assembled, and  constituted  a  Cham- 
ber, and  indeed  that  it  should  have  pur- 
sued a  line  of  conduct  calling  for  its 
dissolution.  But  until  it  assembles,  until 
it  is  constituted  a  Chamber,  there  is  noth- 
ing but  elections,  nothing  but  returns  of 
members  elect.  Now  the  Charter  no- 
where says  that  the  King  has  power  to 
annul  the  elections  ;  and  tne  Ordinances 
published  are  therefore  illegal,  because 
they  undertake  to  do  what  the  Charter 
does  not  authorize. 

'  The  Deputies  elected,  and  convoked 
for  the  third  of  August,  are  therefore 
well  and  truly  elected  and  convoked.  — 
Their  right  today  is  the  sarne  as  it  was 
yesterday.  France  implores  them  to 
remember  it.  Whatever  they  can  do 
to  maintain  this  right,  it  is  their  duty 
to  do. 

<  The  Government  has  this  day  lost  the 
character  of  legality  which  commands 
obedience.  We  resist  it  in  what  con- 
cerns us.  It  rests  with  France  to  judge 
how  far  her  resistance  shall  extend.'* 


*  The  names  of  the  courageous  and  patriotic  citizens,  who  thus  placed  them- 
selves in  the  front  of  resistance  to  arbitrary  power,  belong  to  history,  The  de-> 
claration  is  §igned  by 

MM.  Gauja,  conductor  of  the  JVational, 

Thiers,  Mignet,  Carrel,  Chambolle,  Peysse,  Albert,  Stapfer,  Dubochet, 

Rolle,  editors  of  the  jN'aiioTiaZ. 
Leroux,  conductor  of  the  Globe. 
De  Guizard.  editor  of  the  Globe. 

Sarrans,  jun.  conductor  of  the  Courrier  des  Elccteur9, 
B.  Dejean,  editor  of  the  Globe. 
GuyH,  Moussette,  editors  of  the  Globe, 


FRANCE. 


We  know  not  if  the  annals  of  which  habitual  deference,  and  the 

history  contain  a  more  noble  and  actual  possession  of  power  threw 

spirited  act  of  temperate  reclama-  around  the  position  of  the  King, 

tion  against  the  measures  of  arbi-  Confident  in  the  justice  of  their 

trary  power  than  this.    For  it  is  cause,  they  had  the  moral  great- 

to  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  ness  to  proclaim  to  the  People,  in 

the  declaration  of  delegated  agents  the  language  of  one  of  their  num- 

in  behalf  of  the  rights  of  a  com-  her,  that  the  body  politic  was  dis- 

munity  represented  by  them  :  nor  solved  by  the  voluntary  act  of  the 

the  manifesto  of  a  convention,  or  King,  and  that  by  his  attack  on 

congress,  or  any  other  organized  the  Charter,  France  was  replaced 

body  of  men.    It  is  a  dignified  in  the  provisional  situation,  from 

exposition,  made  by  private  in-  which  it  had  been  raised  in  1814, 

dividuals,  of  the  illegality  of  the  by  the  adoption  of  the  fundamen- 

administrative    proceedings,    by  tal  law  of  the  State.  The  declar- 

whichthey  are  personally  aggriev-  ation  of  the  editors,  being  widely 

ed  ;  and  in  thus  much  is  entitled  circulated  and  universally  read, 

to  signal  praise.    But  it  is  also  a  gave  a  character  of  legalized  vio- 

courageous  exposition  of  the  ille-  lence  to  the  movements  of  the 

gality  of  the  Government  itself ;  Parisian   populace.      It  called 

and  in  this  respect  demands  the  upon  them  not  to  violate  but  to 

gratitude  of  all  France,  and  the  uphold  the  laws ;  not  to  levy  war 

admiration  of  the  friends  of  liber-  against  the  Government,  but  to 

ty  throughout  the  world.    These  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the 

high-minded  journalists  had  bold-  constitutional  Government,  against 

ly  lifted  up  the  veil  of  illusion,  the  traitorous  acts  of  those,  by 

MM.  Auguste  Fabre,  chief  jditor  of  the  Tribune  des  DSpartements. 
Annee,  editor  of  the  Constitutionnel. 
Cauchois-Lamaire,  editor  of  the  Constitutionnel. 
Senty,  of  the  Temps. 
Haussman,  of  the  Temps. 
Avennel,  of  the  Courrier  Frangais. 
Dussard,  of  the  Tewp5. 
Levasseur,  editor  of  the  Revolution. 
Evariste  Dumoulin,  (of  the  Constitutionnel.) 
Alexis  de  Jussieu,  editor  of  the  Courrier  Frangais. 
Chatelain,  conductor  of  the  Courrier  Frangais. 
Plagnol,  chief  editor  of  the  Revolution. 
Fazy,  editor  of  the  Revolution. 
Buzoni,  Barbaroux,  editors  of  the  Temps. 
Chalas,  editor  of  the  Temps. 
A.  Billiard,  editor  of  the  Temps. 
Ader,  of  the  Tribune  des  Departements. 
F.  Larreguy,  editor  of  the  Journal  du  Commerce. 
J.  F.  Dupont,  advocate,  editor  of  the  Courrier  Frangais. 
Ch.  de  Remusat,  of  the  Globe. 

V.  de  Lapelouze,  conductor  of  the  Courrier  Frangais. 

Bohain  and  Roqueplan,  of  the  Figaro. 

Coste,  conductor  of  the  Temps. 

J.J,  Baude,  editor  of  the  Temps. 

Bert,  conductor  of  the  Journal  du  Commerce. 

Leon  I'ilet,  conductor  of  the  Journal  du  Paris. 

Vail) ant,  conductor  of  the  Sylphe. 


320  'ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


whom  It  was  administered  for  the 
time  being.  Whether  those  indi- 
viduals were  Kings  or  Ministers, 
it  mattered  not ;  for  the  time  had 
arrived  when  the  divine  right  of 
the  People  was  recognised  as 
paramount  to  the  divine  right  of 
princes,  the  former  being  coeval 
and  coextensive  with  creation  and 
created  men,  the  latter  being 
secondary  to,  and  dependent 
upon,  the  first,  —  less  entitled  to 
the  prestige  of  antique,  venerable- 
ness,  less  fortified  by  reliance  on 
the  wide  spread  foundations  of 
universal  application.  French- 
men had  long  since  ceased  to  be 
royal  vassals  ;  they  had  exchang- 
ed that  condition  for  the  higher 
one  of  citizens  governed  by  a 
Constitutional  Charter.  While 
they  admitted  that  the  Executive 
was  authorized  to  compel  their 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  land, 
they  at  the  same  time  maintained 
that  they  had  a  right  to  compel 
his  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the 
land.  And  the  declaration  of 
the  editors  called  upon  the  Nation 
to  uphold  the  Charter  and  the 
laws  by  justifiable  resistance  to 
the  usurpation  of  the  Head  of  the 
State. 

It  will  have  been  seen  that  the 
editors  deny  that  the  Crown  pos- 
sessed any  constituent  authority, 
or  any  general  authority  by  the 
Charter,  to  sanction  the  Ordinan- 
ces. They  allude,  in  these  pas- 
sages, to  the  Report  of  the  Minis- 
ters, of  which  we  have  spoken  as 
accompanying  the  Ordinances. 
This  document  is  an  elaborate  at- 
tempt to  justify  the  Ordinances, 
by  general  reasonings  on  the  tenor 
of  the  Charter.  It  concludes  in 
the  following  words : 


*  The  right,  as  well  as  the  duty, 
of  assuring  the  maintenance  of 
itself,  is  the  inseparable  attribute 
of  Sovereignty.  No  government 
on  earth  could  remain  standing,  if 
it  had  not  the  right  to  provide  for 
its  own  security.  This  power 
exists  before  the  laws,  because  it 
is  in  the  nature  of  things.  These 
are  maxims  which  have  in  their 
favor  the  sanction  of  time,  and  the 
assent  of  all  the  publicists  of  Eu- 
rope. 

'  But  these  maxims  have  an- 
other sanction  still  more  positive, 
that  of  the  Charter  itself.  The 
14th  article  has  invested  your 
Majesty  with  a  sufficient  power, 
not  undoubtedly  to  change  our 
institutions,  but  to  consolidate 
them  and  render  them  more  sta- 
ble. 

'Circumstances  of  imperious 
necessity  do  not  permit  the  exer- 
cise of  this  supreme  power  to  be 
any  longer  deferred.  The  mo- 
ment is  come  to  have  recourse  to 
measures,  which  are  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Charter,  but  which  are  be- 
yond the  limits  of  legal  order,  the 
resources  of  which  have  been  ex- 
hausted in  vain.' 

These  extracts  set  forth  two 
grounds,  then,  as  justifying  the 
Ordinances,  namely,  the  text  of 
the  Charter  and  certain  other 
considerations.  The  article  re- 
ferred to  is  in  these  words  :  '  The 
King  is  the  supreme  chief  of  the 
State,  he  commands  the  forces  by 
sea  and  land,  declares  war,  con- 
cludes treaties  of  peace,  alliance, 
and  commerce,  names  to  all  em- 
ployments of  public  administra- 
tions, and  makes  the  regulations 
and  ordinances  necessary  for  the 
execution  of  the  laws  and  the 


FRANCE. 


321 


mfety  of  the  State.^    In  addition 
to  the  remarks  made  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  the  editors  concerning 
the  extraordinary  power  just  dis- 
covered by  the  Ministers  in  the 
mystical  words  of  this  article,  we 
may  observe,  that  the  meaning  they 
give  it,  is  not  only  contrary  to  the 
estabHshed   construction  practi- 
cally received  by  the  Crown,  and 
formally  pronounced  by  the  tribu- 
nals, but  is  so  extravagant  in  itself, 
and  so  inconsistent  with  the  whole 
spirit  and  many  express  clauses 
of  the  Charter,  that  we  can  hard- 
ly  believe  the  Ministers  were  sin- 
cere in  appealing  to  it  for  sanction. 
It  was  a  mockery  of  common 
sense  to  do  so.     In  fact,  the 
Ministers  themselves  admit  that 
the  article  gives  no  right   '  to 
change  the    institutions'  of  the 
country,  but  '  to  consolidate  them 
and  render  them  more  stable.' 
But  while  the  distinction  asserted 
in  this  admission  is  altogether  im- 
aginary, the  very  terms  of  the  ad- 
mission go  upon  a  false  assumption 
of  the  facts.    For  who  can  be 
so  regardless  of  truth  as  to  pre- 
tend that,  for  the  King  to  under- 
take the  entire  reorganization  of 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  a  co- 
ordinate branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment, is  no  '  change  of  the  insti- 
tutions' of  France  ?   If,  anterior 
to  the  Three  Days,  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  had  assumed  to  alter 
the  line  of  succession,  or  had  even 
undertaken  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  some  insurgent 
nation  struggling  for  constitutional 
privileges,  we  fancy  the  Chamber 
would  hardly  have  escaped  with 
the  excuse,  that  this  did  not  con- 
stitute a  '  change  of  the  institu- 
tions' of  the  country,  but  only  a 
28 


consolidation  of  them,  and  a  ren- 
dering them  '  more  stable.'  But 
royal  interpreters  of  constitutions, 
and  royal  expounders  of  the 
grounds  of  royal  authority,  have 
an  incorrigible  antipathy  to  the 
golden  maxim  of  doing  as  they 
would  be  done  by,  and  to  suffer- 
ing others  to  claim  the  benefit  of 
the  general  rules  of  construction, 
which  they  apply  to  their  own 
case.  And  if  anything  can  be 
certain  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitutional  Charter,  it  is  that 
the  royal  authority  in  making  or- 
dinances shall  keep  in  view  the 
execution  of  the  laws  and  the 
safety  of  the  State,  as  coincident 
and  inseparably  associated  objects. 
To  suppose  that  the  King,  upon 
his  own  estimate  of  the  exigency, 
can  repeal  or  change  the  laws  of 
the  land,  nay  act  in  defiance  of  the 
Charter,  is  to  make  him  at  once  an 
absolute  instead  of  a  constitution- 
al monarch.  If  there  was  any 
clause  in  the  Charter  which  so 
placed  the  King  above  the  Char- 
ter and  the  laws,  that  he  might 
change  both  whenever  he  thought 
the  safety  of  the  State  required 
it,  the  Charter  itself  would  have 
been  a  nullity;  for  of  what  use 
could  it  be  but  as  a  fixed  limita- 
tion of  the  powers  and  rights  of 
the  component  elements  of  the 
State,  including  as  well  the  King 
as  the  rest  of  the  Nation,  nay  be- 
fore all  and  above  all  including 
the  King? 

In  the  newspapers  and  other 
publications  of  the  ministerial  par- 
ty, much  had  been  said,  previous 
to  the  publication  of  the  Ordinan- 
ces, of  the  nature  of  the  principle 
on  which  the  Charter  is  founded. 
Men  bad  not  forgotten  that  when 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  imperial  throne  was  declared 
vacant  by  the  Conservative  Sen- 
ate, it  was  offered  to  Louis  XVllL 
upon  conditions,  namely,  on  his 
accepting  the  Constitutional  Char- 
ter, which  they  proposed  as  the 
basis  of  the  new  order  of  things. 
By  a  series  of  tricks,  —  which  in 
private  individuals  would  be  con- 
sidered highly  dishonorable,  but 
which  hereditary  Kings  we  sup- 
pose are  privileged  by  blood  and 
birth  to  practise,  —  and  by  the 
countenance  of  the  Cossacs  and 
sundry  other  congenial  apostles  of 
liberty  encamped  in  sight  of  the 
Tuileries, — Louis  was  enabled 
to  evade  compliance  with  the 
conditions  of  his  restoration  to 
the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  He 
found  it  necessary,  however, 
to  do  something ;  and  we  frankly 
admit  that  he  did  much  for 
France,  in  the  Charter  of  June 
4th,  1814.  But  in  the  preamble 
to  the  instrument  he  takes  care 
to  make  the  most  offensive  reser- 
vations concerning  his  personal 
authority,  the  source  of  his  power, 
and  its  actual  extent.  It  is  '  Louis, 
hy  the  grace  of  God  King  of 
France  and  Navarre,'  that 
speaks.  It  is  '  Divine  Providence' 
that  has  recalled  him  to  his  States ; 
that  is.  Divine  Providence  acting 
directly  and  for  his  personal  bene- 
fit, not  through  the  intervention  of 
the  national  will,  nor  for  the  good 
of  the  Nation.  Accordingly,  after 
suitable  reflections  upon  the  liber- 
al spirit  of  the  Louises,  the  Philips, 
and  the  Henrys,  who  had  gone 
before  him,  and  his  own  disposi- 
tion to  consult  the  temper  of  the 
times;  and  finding  a  precedent 
for  free  institutions  in  the  assem- 
blies of  tlie  Champs-de-Mars  and 


de-Mai,  he  proceeds  :  '  For  these 
causes,  we  have  voluntarily  and 
in  the  free  exercise  of  our  royal 
authority  granted,  as  we  do  hereby 
grant,  make  concession  and  octroi 
to  our  subjects,  as  well  for  us  as 
for  our  successors,  and  forever,  of 
the  Constitutional  Charter  which 
follows.'  Now  many  of  the  short- 
sighted subjects  of  absolutism 
were  found  stupid  enough  to  con- 
tend that,  as  the  Charter  was  a 
voluntary  grant,  concession,  or 
octroi  of  royal  authority,  the  same 
royal  authority  might  reclaim  and 
resume  the  whole  or  any  part  of 
it.  They  forgot  that,  if  it  was  a 
voluntary  grant,  yet  it  was  ex- 
pressly made  forever;  that  his 
Most  Christian  Majesty  had  sol- 
emnly sworn  to  maintain  it  invio- 
late ;  and  that  if  the  Crown  saw 
fit  to  resume  this  grant  thus  made 
forever  and  sanctioned  by  oath, 
the  Nation  were  of  course  rein- 
stated in  the  political  condition  of 
March,  1814,  when  they  were  a 
free  People  with  a  crown  to  be- 
stow,— with  this  material  differ- 
ence, that  then  the  deliberations 
of  the  People  were  overawed  by 
the  invading  host  of  the  victorious 
Allies,  and  that  now  France  would 
be  herself  again,  free  in  her  re- 
solves, mighty  in  her  purposes, 
and  answerable  only  to  the  all  just 
God  of  nations  for  her  sovereign 
and  irremovable  decision. 

In  truth,  the  Ministers,  con- 
scious of  the  weakness  and  unten- 
ableness  of  any  ground  of  justifi- 
cation for  the  Ordinances  within 
the  Charter,  very  frankly  appealed 
for  sanction  to  a  certain  transcen- 
dental power  existing  '  before  the 
laws;'  and  professedly  stepping 
'  beyond  the  limits  of  legal  order, 


FRANCE. 


323 


called  in  aid  the  '  supreme  power' 
of  sovereignty,  growing  out  of  the 
*  nature  of  things.'  This  was 
certainly  frank  and  fair,  whatever 
might  be  deemed  of  its  policy, 
wisdom,  or  justice.  The  Minis- 
ters openly  soared  above  the  low- 
ly regions,  the  humble  terra  fir- 
ma  of  the  Charter,  into  the  clouds 
and  darkness  of  the  '  nature  of 
things '  They  avowedly  took 
for  their  authority  in  issuing  the 
Ordinances,  not  the  powers  and 
rights  held  by  the  Crown  under 
the  Charter,  but  the  power  and 
right  of  usurpation  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  his  authority  more 
stable.  But  in  doing  this  they 
should  have  remembered  that  the 
power  and  right  of  revolution  on 
the  part  of  the  People  corres- 
ponds to  the  power  and  right  of 
usurpation  on  the  part  of  the 
Crown.  In  abandoning  the  Char- 
ter, therefore,  the  Ministers  con- 
verted Charles  into  a  King  de 
facto  instead  of  a  King  de  jure  ; 
and  ceasing  to  be  King  dejure,  he 
could  expect  to  continue  King  de 
facto,  only  by  hazarding  the  ven- 
ture of  a  civil  war,  and  submitting 
the  hereditary  rights  of  the  Bour- 
bons to  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword.  In  voluntarily  breaking 
his  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Charter, 
he  absolved  his  subjects  from  their 
correlative  oath  of  allegiance,  and 
each  party  to  the  social  compact, 
the  King  and  the  nation,  now 
stood  upon  their  respective  natural 
rights,  or  upon  what  the  philoso- 
phical M.  de  Chantelauze  denomi- 
nates power  derived  from  '  the 
nature  of  things,'  which  we  take 
to  signify  nothing  more  nor  less, 
when  translated  from  the  Olympi- 
an dialect  of  these  dii  minores, 


than  physical  force.  The  People 
were  therefore  justified  in  saying, 
that  the  Gov^ernment  had  ceased 
to  possess  the  character  of  legality, 
which  cotnmands  obedience,  and 
that  die  body  politic  was  in  fact 
dissolved,  to  be  reconstructed, 
after  its  elements  had  once  more 
passed  through  the  fiery  trial  of 
civil  war.  Thus  it  was  impos- 
sible to  mistake  the  true  nature  of 
the  crisis,  that  was  pending  over 
the  destinies  of  France. 

By  their  Protest  against  the  Or- 
dinances, and  the  publication  of 
it,  the  editors  of  the  daily  journals 
rendered  themselves  individually 
responsible  for  the  declarations 
contained  in  the  paper  to  which 
they  affixed  their  names.  It  was  a 
noble  example ;  and  it  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  Deputies,  who,  with 
(he  journalists,  were  the  individu- 
als immediately  affected  by  the 
Ordinances.  The  Protest  of  the 
Deputies,  which  will  be  found  in 
another  place  (part  2d,  p.  184)  did 
not  make  its  appearance  on  the 
same  day,  but  it  was  equally  clear 
and  strong  as  to  the  unconstitution- 
ality of  the  Ordinances. 

However  much  in  earnest  the 
King  and  his  Ministers  might 
be,  the  declarations  of  the  jour- 
nalists and  the  liberal  Deputies 
showed  that  these  were  not  less 
so.  It  only  remained  to  see,  in 
the  appeal  to  force  which  was  ap- 
proaching, which  of  the  two  par- 
ties was  to  be  convicted  of  treason ; 
for  it  depended  on  the  award  of 
victory  to  decide  whether  the 
King  or  his  People  should  bear 
the  shame,  and  incur  the  forfeits, 
of  treason. 

In  the  course  of  this  day  the 
Police  had  not  been  idle,  although 


324 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


its  operations  were  confined  with- 
in the  sphere  of  its  appropriate 
functions,  and  the  troops  were  not 
called  to  its  aid.    The  two  ob- 
jects of  the  gendarmerie  during 
the  day  had  been  to  cheek  the 
circulation  of  the  journals,  and  to 
prevent  the  concentration  of  citi- 
zens in  the  walks.    An  Ordinance 
under  the  hand  of  M.  Mangin, 
Prefect  of  Police,  was  promulga- 
ted, and  posted  on  the  walls  in  all 
parts  of  the  city,  prohibiting  the 
circulation  of  any  printed  v/riting, 
which  did  not  bear  the  names, 
and  so  forth,  of  its  author  and 
printer,   and  also  providing  that 
any  proprietor  of  a  reading  room, 
cafe  or  the  like,  who  furnished 
his  customers  with  papers  printed 
contrary  to  the  Ordinance  of  July 
25th,  should  be  prosecuted,  and 
his  establishment  closed.  The 
Police  went  further  ;    and  under 
pretence  of  suppressing  disorder- 
ly assemblies,  caused  the  cofFee 
houses  and  reading  rooms  to  be 
cleared  of  visiters,  and  places  of 
refreshment  and  amusement  to  be 
shut   up,  including  the  theatres. 
Gendarmes     patroled     all  the 
streets  and  places  of  public  resort, 
watching  the  movements  of  the 
citizens,  and  anxiously  interpos- 
ing to  check  any  tendency  to 
popular  ebullition.    The  general 
symptoms  of  sedition  and  threat- 
ened disturbance,  together  with 
the  strong  feeling  of  anxiety  which 
pervaded  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity and  men  of  all  opinions, 
led  to  the  closing  of  several  shops 
and  public  buildings ;   and  the 
galleries  of  the  Palais  Royal  u^ere 
shut  at  an  early  hour.  Young 
tradesmen   paraded  the  streets 
towards    evening,   armed  with 


sword  canes,  which  they  flourish- 
ed in  the  air  with  cries  of  '  yive 
la  Charter  P  and  as  night  closed 
in,  crowds  of  artisans  and  others 
made  their  appearance,  bearing 
sv^^ord  canes,  bludgeons,  or  pis- 
tols. But  civil  war  had  not  yet 
come.  These  incidents  were  on- 
ly indications  of  the  more  excited 
slate  of  public  feeling,  which  the 
least  struggle  between  the  citizens 
and  the  authorities  would  infalli- 
bly engender.  The  Parisian  pop- 
ulace were  now  in  the  situation  of 
the  baited  animal  in  the  lists,  who 
foreseeing  a  desperate  engage- 
ment about  to  arrive,  lashes  him- 
self into  a  fury  by  pawing  the 
earth,  tossing  his  head,  and  utter- 
ing muttered  cries,  the  precursors' 
of  a  mad  encounter  with  his  tor- 
mentors. The  tumultuary  troops- 
of  reckless  young  men,  who,  in  a 
great  city  like  Paris,  are  not  apt  to 
be  slow  to  embrace  such  occasions- 
for  the  development  of  their  super- 
abundant animal  spirits,  and  who 
now  thronged  the  streets  with  the 
watchwords  of  Liberty,  Law,  and 
the  Charter  upon  their  lips,  need- 
ed but  little  added  stimulus  and 
organization  to  be  converted  into 
an  insurrectionary  civic  array,  ripe 
for  deeds  of  courageous  self-de- 
votion. Apprehensive  that  the 
immediate  circulation  of  the  Or- 
dinances, and  of  the  comments  of 
the  journalists  thereon,  would  have 
the  same  effect  in  the  provinces, 
that  it  had  in  the  capital,  in  wak- 
ing the  People  to  a  state  of  al- 
most phrenzied  excitement,  the 
Police,  it  is  afiirmed,  took  steps 
to  arrest  the  journals  at  the  Post 
Office.  But  the  Government  had 
all  along  found  the  Press  to  be  a 
terrible  antagonist  to  their  designs; 


FRANCE. 


325 


and  their  final  assault  upon  it  was 
the  signal,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  for  the  opening  of  the  war- 
fare of  the  Three  Days. 

Thus  ended  Monday  the  26th 
of  July.  During  the  night  no 
events  of  much  consequence  trans- 
pired ;  nor  on  the  morning  of 
Tuesday  had  a  revolution  yet  ap- 
parently commenced.  What  sig- 
nalized the  early  part  of  that  day 
was  the  procedure  of  the  Gov- 
ernment in  regard  to  those  re- 
fractory newspapers,  which  per- 
sisted in  making  their  appearance 
without  the  authorization  required 
by  the  new  Ordinance.  It  will 
be  conceived  that  the  Moniteur, 
the  Quotidienne,  the  Gazette  de 
France,  and  other  ministerial  jour- 
nals, readily  put  on  the  trammels 
which  they  were  commanded  to 
wear.  One  opposition  journal, 
the  Messager  des  Chambres,  fol- 
lowed their  example.  '  Strong  in 
our  consciences  and  our  principles,' 
say  the  editors,  '  we  have  thought 
that  an  opposition  journal  was  still 
necessary,  not  to  discuss  acts 
which  we  will  not  characterize, 
and  which  under  present  circum- 
stances we  cannot  discuss,  but  to 
collect  facts,  to  give  them  to  the 
public,  and  to  rectify  them  if  they 
should  be  disfigured  by  the  minis- 
terial journals.'  But  the  senti- 
ments and  intentions  of  the  great 
body  of  the  liberal  editors,  as  pro- 
claimed in  their  Protest,  would 
not  permit  them  to  enter  into  com- 
promise with  usurped  authori- 
ty ;  —  and  they  resisted  in  various 
ways,  according  to  the  different 
circumstances  in  which  they  hap- 
pened respectively  to  be  placed. 

The  conductors  of  the  Journal 
du  Commerce,  of  La  France  JVou- 
28^ 


velle  and  of  the  Courrier  Francais 
were  desirous  to  issue  their  pa- 
pers, but  found  that  the  master 
printers  whom   they  employed, 
intimidated  by  the  threats  of  the 
Police,  refused  to  execute  the 
printing.    The  Journal  du  Com- 
merce speedily  obtained  a  decree  of 
one  of  the  Courts  in  the  following 
words  :  —  *  Considering  the  Ordi- 
nance of  the  King  of  the  25th 
relative  to  the  Press  has  not  been 
promulgated    according    to  the 
forms  prescribed  by  the  Ordi- 
nance of  the  27th  of  November, 
1826,  and  that  of  the  18th  of 
January.   1817  :  We  order  M. 
Selligue  to  proceed  to  the  com- 
position and  printing  of  the  Jour- 
nal du  Commerce,  which  is  to  ap- 
pear tomorrow.'    A  decree  of  the 
same  tenor  was  directed  to  M. 
Plassau,  printer  of  La  France 
JVouvelle.    The  conductors  of  the 
Courrier  Frangais  addressed  a 
circular  to  their  subscribers,  stat- 
ing  the  controversy  with  their 
printer  as  the  reason  why  their  pa- 
per did  not  appear.  — '  The  dis- 
pute,' say  they,  'has  been  referred 
to  the  tribunals.    We  shall  em- 
ploy all  legal  means  to  make  our 
right  triumph  ;  but  we  shall  not 
apply  for  a  license,  which  would 
seem  to  imply  our  submission  to 
acts,  which  violatethe  Charter  a  i  s 
the  laws.'    Although  no  decision 
was  had  upon  this  case  until  the 
next  day,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
anticipate  the  strict  succession  of 
events,  and  to  introduce  here  the 
remarkable  judgment  of  the  Tri- 
bunal of  Commerce,  as  follows  : 

'  Considering  that,  by  an  agree- 
ment between  the  parties,  Gaultier 
Laguionie  had  bound  himself  to 


326 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


print  for  the  editors  of  the  journal 
entitled  the  Conrrier  Francois, 
and  that  all  agreements  lawfully 
made  should  be  carried  into 
effect,  it  is  in  vain  that  M.  Gaul- 
tier  Laguionie  would  avoid  a  com- 
pliance with  his  engagements,  on 
the  ground  of  a  notice  from  the 
Prefect  of  Police,  enjoining  on 
him  obedience  to  the  Ordinance 
of  the  25th,  which  Ordinance  be- 
ing contrary  to  the  Charter  could 
not  be  obligatory,  either  upon  the 
sacred  and  ifiviolable  person  of 
the  King,  or  upon  the  citizens 
whose  rights  it  attacks  :  —  Con- 
sidering farther  that,  according  to 
the  forms  of  the  Charter,  ordinan- 
ces can  only  be  issued  for  the 
purpose  of  executing,  and  main- 
taining the  laws,  and  that  the 
above  Ordinance  on  the  contrary 
would  have  the  effect  of  violating 
the  provisions  of  the  law  of  July 
28th,  1828:  —  the  Tribunal  or- 
dains and  decrees  that  the  agree- 
ment between  the  parties  shall  be 
carried  into  effect,  and  conse- 
quently condemns corps  Gaul- 
tier  Laguionie  to  print  the  Cour- 
rier  Frangais  within  twentyfour 
hours,  and  in  case  of  his  failure  so 
to  do  reserves  the  right  of  the  edi- 
tor to  sue  for  damages,'  he. 

These  decisions  of  the  courts 
upon  the  Ordinance  complete  the 
singular  picture  of  illegality  pre- 
sented by  the  operations  of  the 
infatuated  King.  The  decisions, 
which  we  have  given  an  account 
of,  embrace  the  whole  question  at 
issue ;  for  the  ground,  on  which 
one  of  the  Ordinances  is  })ro- 
nounced  unconstitutional,  applies 
-equally  to  each  of  the  other. 
Here  therefore  we  have  the 
courts   of  justice   directly  and 


openly  countenancing  and  uphold- 
ing the  citizens  in  their  plans  of 
acting  in  open  defiance  of  the 
royal  authority,  and  thus  commu- 
nicating the  character  of  full  and 
perfect  legality  even  to  violence, 
if  it  should  be  committed  in  self- 
defence  against  any  violence  on 
the  part  of  the  Crown.  In  fine, 
the  tribunals  had  declared  that  a 
revolution  would  be  lawful. 

Reverting,  then,  to  the  morn- 
ing of  Tuesday,  we  find  the  Temps, 
the  Figaro,  and  the  JVational  ap- 
pearing without  a  license.  The 
JVational  and  the  Temps,  espe- 
cially, by  means  of  well  devised 
secret  arrangements,  were  printed 
and  published  in  spite  of  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  Police.  They  were 
issued  gratuitously  at  their  respec- 
tive offices,  and  in  the  same  way 
distributed  in  various  quarters  of 
the^city.  The  conductors  of 
these  two  papers,  who  had  been 
distinguished  for  their  zeal  and 
courage,  professed  a  determination 
to  defend  themselves  and  their 
premises  by  force,  if  any  violence 
should  be  offered  by  the  agents  of 
the  Government.  Crowds  of 
people  thronged  their  doors,  to 
whom  they  threw  out  their  pa- 
pers, with  injunctions  to  every 
individual  to  take  up  arms  in 
defence  of  his  country.  Young 
men  ran  through  the  gardens, 
distributing  the  JVational  or 
the  Temps  to  the  eager  multitude 
around,  who  formed  into  groups 
to  hear  read  aloud  the  ardent  ap- 
peals to  their  patriotism  contained 
in  those  free-spirited  journals.  In 
this  way,  information  concerning 
the  Ordinances,  and  the  views  of 
the  liberal  party  thereon,  came  to 
be  much  more  universally  circu- 
lated on  Tuesday  than  it  had 


PRANCE. 


327 


been  the  day  before ;  for  that, 
which  had  been  previously  known 
only  to  particular  classes  of  per- 
sons, was  now  thoroughly  under- 
stood by  all  Paris. 

Out  of  these  bold  proceedings 
of  the  editors  of  the  JVational  and 
the  Temps  grew  the  first  occasion 
for  resort  to  actual  force.  Sev- 
eral hours  elapsed  after  the  dis- 
tribution of  their  papers,  before 
the  Ministers  decided  what  steps 
to  take.  At  length  about  noon  a 
commissary  of  Police  with  a  strong 
force  of  gendarmes,  mounted  and 
on  foot,  attacked  the  office  of  the 
JVational  in  the  Rue  Saint  Marc. 
They  demanded  admission,  but 
were  refused,  while  copies  of  the 
journal  were  thrown  out  of  the 
windows,  and  distributed  before 
the  eyes  of  the  gendarmes  them- 
selves. At  length,  these  men 
broke  open  the  doors,  seized  on 
the  types  and  other  materials,  and 
sent  the  chief  redacteur  to  prison, 
leaving  a  guard  of  mounted  offi- 
cers near  the  spot.  The  same 
things  took  place  at  the  office  of 
the  Temps.  In  addition  to  which 
it  is  said  that,  finding  it  difficult 
to  break  into  the  doors  of  the  lat- 
ter office,  the  commissary  sent  for 
various  smiths,  who  refused  to  aid 
him  in  picking  the  lock  ;  and  he 
was  obliged,  at  last,  to  call  for 
one  of  the  myrmidons  of  the  pri- 
sons, whose  business  it  was  to 
rivet  the  chains  of  the  galley- 
slaves.  These  operations  took 
up  several  hours,  in  one  of  the 
most  frequented  parts  of  Paris,  in 


the  face  of  crowds  of  excited 
spectators,  who  cheered  on  the 
printers  to  stand  for  their  interest 
and  their  rights,  and  who  regard- 
ed the  scene  as  what  it  really 
was,  an  outrageous  invasion  of 
private  property  at  the  mere  law- 
less will  of  a  tyrant.  Every  looker 
on  regarded  the  case  as  his  own, 
and  left  the  spot  full  of  indigna- 
tion against  the  King,  the  Minis- 
ters, and  all  their  subordinate 
agents,  considering  their  conduct 
as  no  better  than  robbery  of 
housebreaking,  and  fully  resolved 
to  second  the  editors  and  printers 
in  manful  defence  of  the  Charter, 
Already  the  Police  were  begin- 
ning to  be  satisfied  that  their  ef- 
forts had  now  become  of  no  avail, 
in  opposition  to  an  entire  People  ; 
for  although  they  had  orders  to 
arrest  the  conductors  and  editors 
of  newspapers  for  subscribing  the 
celebrated  Protest,  in  the  disor-^ 
der  and  confusion  of  the  time  they 
found  it  wholly  impracticable. 
Well  might  one  of  the  patriotic 
editors  say,  in  a  circular  to  his 
subscribers  :  '  Between  right  and 
violence  the  struggle  cannot  be 
protracted,  and  we  shall  soon  see 
our  national  flag  unfurled.'  The 
Press,  in  short,  had  done  its  duty 
unflinchingly,  in  early  protesting 
against  the  illegal  proceedings  of 
the  Government,  in  calling  upon 
the  People  to  maintain  their 
rights,  and  in  setting  the  first  ex- 
ample of  resistance,  of  self-sacri- 
fice, and  of  defiance  of  tyranny 
and  usurpation. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


FRANCE,  CONTINUED. 


2^he  Three  Days.  —  Military  Arrangements.  —  Marmont.  —  The 
Garrison.  — Dispersion  of  the  People.  — JVight  of  Tuesday.  — 
The  Citizens  arm  on  Wednesday.  —  Marmonfs  Plans. — Depu- 
tation of  the  Citizens.  —  Movements  of  the  Troops.  —  Conflict  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  —  Retreat  of  the  Troops.  —  Their  Conduct. 

—  Barricades  Thursday.  —  The  Polytechnic  School.  —  Positions 
of  the  Garrison.  —  Combats.  —  Capture  of  the  Louvre.  —  Evac- 
uation of  the  Tuileries  and  of  Paris.  —  Conduct  of  the  People. 

—  Their  Losses. 


It  is  one  of  the  remarkable 
facts  connected  with  the  Revolu- 
tion of  the  Three  Days,  that, 
when  the  Ministers  were  about  to 
undertake  the  overthrow  of  the 
Charter,  —  when  they  might  and 
should  have  known  the  temper 
and  spirit  of  the  Nation,  —  no 
military  preparations  of  any  sort 
were  made,  but  everything  went 
on  in  the  blind  confidence  of  un- 
doubting  security.  Like  the  stu- 
pid ostrich,  who  is  said  to  plunge 
her  head  in  the  sand,  and  imag- 
ine she  has  escaped  her  pursuers 
because  she  has  voluntarily  blind- 
ed herself  to  them,  Charles  the 
Tenth  rested  tranquil  in  the  royal 
idleness  of  his  nature,  under  the 
fancied  shelter  of  his  own  benight- 
ed ignorance.  Hence  it  was  that, 
until  Tuesday  morning,  two  days 
after  the  Ordinances  were  signed, 
no  arrangements  were  made  by 


the  Government  to  prevent  a  civil 
war,  or  to  succeed  in  it  if  it  should 
break  upon  them  in  spite  of  their 
preventive  exertions. 

In  the  Moniteur  of  Wednesday, 
the  28th,  appeared  an  Ordinance 
conferring  the  military  command 
of  Paris  upon  Marshal  Marmont, 
Due  de  Raguse,  dated  Sunday, 
the  25th.  But  it  is  said  the  Or- 
dinance was  antedated  ;  and  at 
any  rate  on  the  morning  of  Tues- 
day, the  27th,  M.  de  Raguse  was 
wholly  uninformed  of  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  ;  for  he  was  actually 
stepping  into  his  carriage  at  St 
Cloud  to  make  an  excursion  into 
the  country,  when  his  aide  inform- 
ed him  of  the  disturbed  state  of 
Paris  the  evening  before,  and  thus 
prevented  his  departure.  About 
noon  of  that  day  he  was  sent  for 
by  the  King  and  invested  with  the 
command,  which  he  actually  en- 


FRANCE. 


329 


tered  upon  at  the  Tuileries  a  few 
hours  afterwards.  These  facts 
appeared  in  evidence  in  the  se- 
quel, when  the  Ministers  were 
brought  to  trial  before  the  Peers 
for  issuing  the  Ordinances. 

The  exact  state  of  the  military 
force  at  the  disposal  of  Marmont 
is  also  well  ascertained  by  infor- 
mation derived  from  different 
sources.  It  consisted  of  the 
Guards,  troops  of  the  Line,  and 
others  to  the  amount  of  about 
twelve  thousand  men.  The 
Guards  were  composed  in  the 
outset  of  three  Swiss  regiments  of 
infantry,  having  eight  battalions 
and  three  thousand  eight  hundred 
men  ;  of  two  regiments  of  caval- 
ry, having  eight  squadrons  and 
eight  hundred  men  ;  and  of  an 
artillery  force  of  twelve  pieces 
served  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men.  There  were  four  regiments 
of  the  Line,  with  eleven  battal- 
ions, and  four  thousand  four  hun- 
dred men,  who  almost  immedi- 
ately professed  themselves  neu- 
tral, and  who,  if  they  did  not  aid 
the  People,  were  certainly  of  little 
or  no  service  to  the  King.  There 
were  also  eleven  companies  of 
Fusiliers  Sedetitaires  or  Veterans, 
consisting  of  one  hundred  men 
each,  who  gave  up  their  arms  to 
the  citizens  instead  of  opposing 
them  ;  and  the  Gendarmerie, 
horse  and  foot,  one  thousand  three 
hundred  strong.  Of  all  this  force, 
only  the  Guards  and  part  of  the 
Gendarmerie  can  be  considered 
effective,  amounting  to  about  six 
thousand  men,  on  whom  Marmont 
had  to  depend  to  meet  the  whole 
population  of  Paris,  a  brave  and 
martial  people,  vehemently  ex- 
cited, many  of  them  discharged 


veterans,  capable  at  any  time  of 
affording  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
men  at  a  day's  notice,  and  dwell- 
ing in  a  city  peculiarly  fitted  by 
its  style  of  construction  to  be  the 
theatre  of  civic  warfare.  And  yet 
had  the  Ministers  possessed  any 
forethought  for  the  occasion,  troops 
were  to  be  had  in  abundance  at 
Saint  Denis,  Sevres,  Vincennes, 
Versailles,  and  other  places  near 
Paris,  sufficient  in  number  to  have 
balanced,  if  not  overcomCy  the 
extemporaneous  levies  of  the  citi- 
zen-multitude. 

When  Marmont  arrived  in  Pa- 
ris, the  necessity  for  prompt 
measures  for  repressing  distur- 
bances in  various  parts  of  the  city 
had  become  urgent.  Immense 
crowds  of  the  laboring  classes 
were  collected  in  the  region  of  the 
Palais  Royal  and  of  the  Tuileries^ 
and  near  the  hotels  of  some  of 
the  Ministers,  wha, although  arm-- 
ed  only  with  bludgee!::S  Zui 
stones,  treated  with  utter  contempt 
all  the  efforts  of  the  Police  for 
their  dispersion.  The  gen-, 
darmes  rode  up  and  down  the 
streets  and  squares  to  no  purpose  ; 
they  were  everywhere  insulted 
and  reviled.  The  citizens  had 
now  closed  their  shops,  and  aa 
overwhelming  multitude  of  men^ 
all  animated  with  the  same  hatred 
of  the  Government,  and  openly 
proposing  the  most  daring  acts  of 
resistance,  inundated  the  streets 
in  that  most  frequented  quarter  of 
the  city.  Thus  far,  it  is  true^ 
they  were  only  a  mob ;  but  they 
were  gradually  changing  their 
character,  and  their  reiterated  at- 
tacks upon  the  Hotel  Wagram  on 
the  Boulevard  des  Capucines,  the 
official  residence  of  M,  de  Polig- 


330  ANNUAL    REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


nac,  must  have  taught  the  Pre- 
mier that  what  he  saw  was  no 
transient  ebullition  of  popular 
heat.  Accordingly,  at  half  past 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
Marmont  issued  his  orders  to 
get  the  troops  under  arms,  and 
bodies  of  infantry  and  cavalry  were 
hastily  marched  to  the  Place  du 
Carrousel.the  Place  Louis Quinze, 
and  the  Boulevards.  The  regu- 
lar troops  were  then  for  the  first 
time  called  upon  to  take  part  in 
the  passing  events. 

It  being  now  late  in  the  after- 
noon, and  an  hour  when  the  great 
thoroughfares  of  Paris  are  always 
full  of  people,  the  crowd  continu- 
ed to  increase  by  the  influx  of 
citizens  into  the  narrow  streets 
near  the  Palais  Royal,  until  these 
became  wholly  impassable.  The 
Police  having  endeavored  in  vain 
to  open  a  communication  by  dis- 
persing the  mob,  demanded  the 
SFsisiauCe  of  troops.  In  fact,  one 
of  the  gendarmes  had  already 
been  killed  by  the  citizens.  Here- 
upon small  detachments  of  the 
Guard  were  sent  to  clear  the 
streets,  and  preserve  order  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Palais  Royal  espe- 
cially, as  apprehensions  began  to 
be  entertained  that  the  citizens 
would  break  open  the  shops  of  the 
gunsmiths  nnd  armorers,  which 
abound  in  that  region,  and  possess 
themselves  of  arms.  It  appears 
that  the  pieces  of  the  troops  form- 
ing these  detachments  were  not 
generally  loaded,  and  that  they 
had  orders  to  conduct  themselves 
with  moderation  and  temper,  and 
not  to  fire  unless  they  were  fired 
upon  by  the  people.  One  small 
detachment  endeavored  to  de- 
bonche  by  the  Rue  du  Due  de 


Bourdeaux,  near  the  Tuileries,but 

was  so  closely  pressed  upon  and 
pelted  with  stones,  tiles,  and  other 
missiles,  as  to  be  held  in  check 
for  a  while.  On  the  other  hand 
the  Guards  endeavored  to  make 
way  by  riding  among  the  people 
and  striking  them  with  the  flat  of 
their  sabres.  At  this  point  the 
firing  commenced,  and  it  is  singu- 
lar enough  that  the  first  shot  was 
fired  by  an  Englishman.  This 
man,  whose  name  is  said  to  have 
been  Foulkes,  lodged  at  an  Eng- 
lish hotel  at  the  corner  of  Rue 
des  Pyramides  and  Rue  Saint 
Honore ;  and  as  the  detachment 
endeavored  to  pass  he  loaded  a 
fowling  piece  and  discharged  it 
against  them  from  the  windows. 
The  soldiers  fired  a  volley  in  re- 
turn, which  killed  the  English- 
man and  two  other  persons. 
Meanwhile  another  and  a  stronger 
detachment  had  sought  the  Rue 
Saint  Honore  by  the  Rue  de 
I'Echelle,  who  were  also  arrested 
in  their  progress  by  the  mass  of 
people  accumulated  in  the  Rue 
Saint  Honor^  between  the  two 
detachments.  Here  was  the  first 
example  of  a  barricade,  which 
was  formed  on  the  sudden  by  over- 
turning an  omnibus,  one  of  the 
long  coaches  which  ply  from  one 
part  of  Paris  to  another,  and 
placing  it  across  the  street.  Be- 
hind this  ofl^-hand  entrenchment, 
the  citizens  received  the  summons 
of  the  Guards  to  surrender,  and 
answered  it  only  with  a  shower  of 
tiles  and  pavement  stones.  At 
length  the  troops  forced  the  bar- 
ricade, and  after  two  discharges 
in  the  air  fired  the  third  time  upon 
the  people,  and  finally  drove  them 
slowly  along  the  street.  Other 


FRANCE. 


331 


detachments,  sent  to  the  Palais 
Royal,  and  further  up  towards 
the  Bourse,  fired  repeated  volleys 
upon  the  people,  killing  a  few  and 
wounding  many.  Thus  by  reit- 
erated attacks  on  the  crowds  of 
unarmed  men,  and  especially  by 
charges  of  cavalry  along  the  nar- 
row streets,  encountered  only  by 
stones,  glass,  tiles  and  so  forth, 
thrown  from  the  houses  or  from 
among  the  mob,  the  multitude 
was  gradually  thinned  off  early 
after  night-fall;  and  at  eleven 
o'clock  the  troops  returned  through 
silent  and  deserted  streets  to  their 
quarters. 

In  these  incipient  operations  of 
the  military  several  things  deserve 
separate  attention.  The  citizens, 
it  will  be  remembered,  were  not 
yet  armed,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  word  ;  they  had  no  fire-arms, 
or  anything  to  resist  the  attack  of 
the  cavalry  or  other  regular  troops; 
for  sticks,  sword-canes,  or  even 
pocket  pistols  were  but  poor 
means  of  combating  with  soldiers 
armed  to  the  teeth.  In  fact,  the 
citizens  fought  with  the  stones  and 
other  missiles  found  on  the  spot, 
and  with  nothing  else.  They 
were  therefore  a  mob  of  rioters, 
not  a  revolutionary  militia.  Still 
it  seems  that  the  usual  ceremony 
of  summoning  them  to  disperse 
by  the  intervention  of  the  civil 
magistrate,  preparatory  to  a  charge 
of  troops,  was  wholly  omitted. 
Qualis  ah  incepto  talis  ad  finem. 
The  Ministers  had  embarked  in  a 
desperate  attempt  to  revolutionize 
the  Government,  and  abolish  all 
the  guaranties  of  liberty ;  and 
they  did  not  trouble  themselves 
particularly   about  the  forms  of 


law,  in  riding  down  the  unruly 
badauds  of  Paris. 

The  incidents  of  this  day  af- 
forded to  each  of  the  parties  en- 
gaged some  valuable  lessons,  but 
the  insurgent  citizens  alone  seem 
to  have  turned  them  to  profit. 
What  should  even  then,  at  the 
opening  scene  of  civil  war,  have 
taught  the  King  to  recede,  and 
revoke  the  obnoxious  Ordinances, 
was  the  conduct  of  the  troops  of 
the  Line.  Surely  the  Ministers 
could  not  in  reason  hope  to  suc- 
ceed, with  all  the  moral  force  of 
France  against  them,  and  all  the 
physical  force,  also,  except  a  few 
thousand  men  of  the  Garde 
Royale.  Yet  that  such  was  the 
prospect  before  them,  they  might 
have  inferred,  if  they  had  used 
their  understandings,  from  the  in- 
cidents of  Tuesday.  For  at  this 
time  the  troops  of  the  Line  plainly 
evinced  their  disposition  to  frater- 
nize with  their  fellow  citizens 
against  the  Crown.  A  detach- 
ment of  the  fifth  regiment  of  the 
Line,  which  was  marched  into 
the  Place  du  Palais  Royal,  was 
greeted  with  cries  of  good  will 
by  the  people  assembled  there, 
and  thus  early  engaged  not  to  fire 
upon  them  if  ordered.  Nor  does 
it  appear  that  any  of  the  troops  of 
the  Line,  on  service  this  day, 
co-operated  to  any  purpose  with 
the  Guard. 

Nevertheless,  Marshal  Mar- 
mont,  misled  by  the  apparent  suc- 
cess of  the  first  day's  operations, 
and  finding  the  city  in  a  tranquil 
state  in  the  evening,  wrote  to  the 
King  in  the  most  encouraging 
language.  M.  de  Polignac,  on 
the  contrary,  although  he  is  said 


332 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


to  have  participated  in  the  delu- 
sion of  the  Marshal,  took  a  very 
peculiar  step  in  view  of  all  the 
circumstances.  Polignac  gave  a 
dinner  that  evening  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabinet,  who  sat  down 
to  the  council  table  at  the  Hotel 
Wagram  under  the  protection  of 
a  battalion  and  of  several  pieces  of 
artillery.  It  was  an  extraordina- 
ry time  to  join  in  festivities,  when 
civil  war  was  breaking  out  around 
them  in  consequence  of  their  vio- 
lation of  the  Charter ;  and  they 
must  have  felt  like  a  band  of 
conspirators,  partaking  of  Cati- 
line's bloody  cup,  —  humani  cor- 
poris sanguinem  vino  permix- 
tum.  At  the  close  of  this  their 
last  official  feast,  they  signed 
an  ordinance  declaring  Paris  in  a 
state  of  siege,  and  giving  up  its  in- 
habitants to  the  horrors  of  martial 
law\  It  needed  only  this  final  act 
of  tyranny  to  fill  the  measure  of 
their  infamy  and  fatuity,  thus  to 
consign  over  the  capital  of  the 
Kingdom  to  military  violence, 
suspending  the  operation  of  all 
civil  authority  within  its  limits.  — 
But  as  to  the  Parisians  them- 
selves, such  an  ordinance  fell 
harmless  at  their  feet ;  for  they 
had  already  renounced  the  Gov- 
ernment from  which  it  emanated, 
and  no  longer  felt  as  if  they  could 
gain  or  lose  by  decrees,  when 
they  were  fixed  to  try  the  issue  of 
arms.  And  yet  the  Ministers 
rested  content  with  the  empty 
menace  of  an  ordinance,  instead 
of  taking  measures  to  prevent  the 
citizens  from  obtaining  arms  and 
ammunition.  It  was  represented 
to  the  Government  that  the  scat- 
tered guard  houses  about  the  city. 


and  the  armorers'  shops,  would 
inevitably  be  plundered  before 
the  morrow  ;  and  that  the  Arsen- 
al and  the  powder  magazine  of 
Deux  Moulins  should  be  properly 
guarded  to  preserve  them  from 
the  same  fate.  But  the  good  ge- 
nius of  the  Nation  prevailed,  and 
lulled  the  Commander  in  Chief 
and  the  Ministers  into  inaction  as 
fatal  to  their  cause  as  it  was  ex- 
traordinary. 

Some  characteristic  incidents 
on  the  part  of  the  citizens  termina- 
ted the  evening  of  Tuesday. 
Desirous  to  expel  the  guard  sta- 
tioned in  the  Place  de  la  Bourse 
they  had  set  fire  to  the  guard 
house,  a  small  wooden  building ; 
and  when  the  firemen  came  to 
extinguish  the  flames,  they  suf- 
fered themselves  to  be  disarmed 
by  the  mob.  During  the  evening 
the  citizens  exhibited  in  this 
square,  and  elsewhere  in  the  city, 
the  body  of  a  man  killed  by  the 
discharge  of  the  guards  in  the 
Rue  Saint  Honore,  inciting  each 
other  to  vengeance  by  the  view 
of  their  murdered  compatriot. 
They  then  proceeded  to  destroy 
the  lamps  which  lighted  the  city, 
thus  signifying  as  it  were  the  end 
of  legal  order.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  lamps  of 
Paris  are  suspended  from  ropes 
stretched  across  the  street,  where- 
of such  terrible  use  was  made  in 
the  former  Revolution.  By  the 
destruction  of  the  lanterns  the 
narrow  avenues  of  Paris  were 
given  up  to  darkness  and  mystery, 
and  the  populace  were  left  to  the 
secure  prosecution  of  their  plans 
of  preparation  for  the  decisive 
movements  of  the  ensuing  day. 


FRANCE. 


333 


The  citizens,  as  we  have  seen, 
retired  on  Tuesday  evening,  and 
left  the  streets  in  such  apparent 
tranquillity,  that  Marshal  Mar- 
mont  was  completely  deceived. 
But  everything  was  changed  be- 
fore the  troops  left  their  barracks 
the  next  morning.  The  National 
Guard  and  the  tri-colored  flag 
reappeared  together  on  Wednes- 
day, and  armed  partisans  suc- 
ceeded to  the  mobs  of  the  day 
before.  Early  in  the  morning, 
or  during  the  night,  the  armorers' 
shops  had  been  entered,  the  de- 
tached guard-houses  had  been 
plundered,  the  Fuseliers  Seden- 
taires  had  given  up  their  arms, 
the  Arsenal  had  been  captured, 
the  theatres  had  made  a  distribu- 
tion of  muskets  and  other  arms, 
and  the  magazine  of  Deux  Mou- 
lins  had  furnished  the  insurgents 
with  ammunition  for  the  weapons, 
which  they  procured  from  every 
accessible  source.  Add  to  the 
quantity  of  arms  obtained  by  haz- 
ard or  force,  or  previously  pos- 
sessed by  individuals,  that  forty 
thousand  equipments  had  remain- 
ed with  the  soldiers  of  the  National 
Guard,  at  their  disbandmenta  few 
years  before  ;  and  we  shall  then 
conceive  by  what  means  an  abun- 
dance of  arms  and  munitions  of 
war  was  on  the  instant  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Parisians. 

All  business  but  that  of  war 
was  now  completely  at  a  stand. 
The  shops  were  everywhere 
closely  shut,  and  the  windows 
fastened  and  barred,  as  if  in 
serious  preparation  for  actual 
siege.  Handbillsof  an  inflamma- 
tory nature  had  been  profusely 
distributed  during  the  night,  or 
posted  up  in  conspicuous  situa- 
29 


tions,  where  they  could  easily  be 
read,  so  as  to  supply  the  place  of 
the  ordinary  journals.  The  toc- 
sin was  sounded,  summoning 
every  man  to  arm  for  his  coun- 
try, and  to  aid  in  ejecting  the  odi- 
ous Bourbons  from  the  power 
they  had  obtained  by  foreign  force, 
and  now  dishonored  by  their  ty- 
ranny ;  and  the  multitude  came 
pouring  in  from  the  faubourgs,  to 
swell  the  masses  furnished  by  the 
swarming  streets  of  the  city.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  trades- 
men of  the  royal  family  took  down 
the  royal  arms  from  their  doors 
to  deprecate  the  fury  of  the  armed 
citizens,  and  their  example  was 
followed  by  the  notaries  and  other 
legal  functionaries,  whose  offices 
exhibited  the  badges  of  royal  au- 
thority. In  fact  the  insignia  of 
royalty  were  everywhere  defaced 
or  taken  down,  and  when  they 
were  moveable,  suspended  to  the 
lamp  ropes  in  scorn,  or  publicly 
burnt  in  heaps,  amid  cries  of 
J^ive  la  Charie  i  All  Paris  was 
now  in  open  insurrection.  They 
hailed  with  enthusiastic  acclama- 
tions the  appearance  of  the  tri- 
colored  flag,  which  roused  all 
their  recollections  of  other  days  of 
glory,  and  was  inseparably  asso- 
ciated in  their  minds  with  the  idea 
of  national  independence.  They 
greeted  it  as  the  'star  of  the 
brave,'  as  the  '  rainbow  of  the 
free  ;'  and  they  felt  as  if  starting 
from  a  troubled  sleep,  when  they 
beheld  the  long  proscribed  sym- 
bol of  the  Revolution  floating 
once  more  to  the  breeze,  the  con- 
secrated banner  of  a  second  strug- 
gle with  despotism,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  citizen  soldiers  of 
the  National  Guard. 


334 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


It  is  to  be  observed,  however, 
that  nothing  like  combination  or 
the  influence  of  responsible  lead- 
ers was  yet  discernible.  The 
assembling  hosts  bore  every  spe- 
cies of  weapon,  some  rifles  or 
proper  military  muskets,  many  of 
them  fowling  pieces,  pistols, 
swords,  pikes,  and  even  much 
humbler  means  of  offence  and  de- 
fence. It  seemed  to  be  a  mere 
spontaneous  outpouring  of  uni- 
versal enthusiasm,  a  sort  of  in- 
stinct of  opposition  to  the  King  and 
all  who  supported  his  authority, 
which  stimulated  young  and  old 
alike,  from  the  spruce  bourgeois 
who  left  his  counter  to  have  a  shot 
at  the  Guards,  to  the  hardy  ope- 
ratives of  the  faubourgs,  who  need- 
ed nothing  but  a  fit  occasion  to 
convert  them  into  brave  and 
ready  soldiers.  But  however  de- 
ficient in  the  regular  organization 
of  war  these  men  were,  no  one 
could  doubt  who  saw  them,  that 
the  fate  of  the  Bourbons  was  seal- 
ed. Strong  parties  began  to 
march  down  from  the  Rue  Saint 
Antoine  and  the  quarter  above 
the  Place  de  la  Bastille,  who  oc- 
cupied the  Quai  de  la  Greve,  and 
the  contiguous  Place  de  I'Hotel 
de  Ville,  the  Place  du  Palais 
Royal,  and  the  other  open  spaces 
intermediate  between  those  points, 
and  hoisted  the  tricolored  flag  on 
the  towers  of  Notre  Dame. 

Marshal  Marmont,  it  seems, 
who  had  left  the  citizens  to  pro- 
cure arms  and  make  their  ar- 
rangements unmolested  since  mid- 
night, now  began  to  take  alarm, 
and  to  view  the  matter  in  its  true 
light.  At  eight  o'clock  he  wrote 
to  the  King  a  long  letter,  which 


miscarried,  and  again  another  of 
the  same  purport  an  hour  after- 
wards, as  follows  : 

'  Wednesday,  9  A.  M. 
'  I  had  the  honor  yesterday  of 
making  report  to  your  Majesty  of 
the  dispersion  of  the  groups,  which 
disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  Paris. 
This  morning  they  have  again 
formed,  more  numerous  and  men- 
acing than  before.  It  is  no  long- 
er a  riot, —  it  is  a  revolution.  It 
is  of  urgent  necessity  that  your 
Majesty  should  adopt  measures  of 
pacification.  The  honor  of  the 
Crown  may  yet  be  saved.  To- 
morrow, perhaps,  it  will  be  too 
late.  I  shall  take  today  the  same 
measures  as  yesterday.  The 
troops  will  be  ready  at  noon.  I 
await  with  impatience  your  Majes- 
ty's orders.' 

This  note  exhibits  evident 
marks  of  having  been  written  in 
considerable  agitation,  and  under 
the  influence  of  some  desponden- 
cy, or  of  great  reluctance  to  pro- 
ceed to  extremities.  Marmont 
had  dispersed  an  unarmed  mob 
the  day  before  by  charges  of 
moveable  columns  in  various  parts 
of  the  city  :  did  he  intend  to  ope- 
rate in  the  same  way  today  against 
an  armed  militia,  as  daring  as  it 
was  numerous  !  Such  is  the  in- 
tention expressed  in  his  despatch. 
Fortunately  we  possess  an  able 
and  authentic  account  of  the 
movements  of  the  troops  from 
the  pen  of  M.  Bermond  de  Va- 
cheres,  a  stafF-oflicer  of  the 
Guards,  which  affords  a  clear 
insight  into  the  military  events  of 
the  Revolution,  and  enables  us  to 
give  a  faithful  view  of  the  plan  of 


FRANCE. 


335 


operations  adopted  by  Marmont. 
As  for  the  delay  of  three  hours  in 
setting  the  troops  in  motion,  the 
sole  reason  which  can  be  assign- 
ed for  it  is  the  anxiety  of  the 
Marshal  to  prevent  the  effusion  of 
blood,  and  to  afford  the  King  time 
to  send  back  a  pacific  answer. 
No  such  answer  came,  however, 
and  accordingly  the  sanguinary 
work  of  war  commenced. 

Marmont's  head-quarters  were 
at  this  time  at  the  Tuileries,  where 
indeed  they  continued  until  the 
Chateau  was  occupied  by  the 
citizens,  and  the  contest  terminat- 
ed. This  post  was  defended  on 
the  upper  side  towards  the  city, 
by  means  of  six  battalions  of 
French  Guards,  with  three  squad- 
rons of  lancers  and  the  artillery, 
who  formed  in  order  of  battle  on 
the  Place  du  Carrousel ;  and  on 
the  side  of  the  Gardens  were  two 
battalions  of  Swiss  Guards  occu- 
pying the  Place  Louis  Quinze. 
Strong  detachments  were  station- 
ed in  the  Champs  Elysees,  to 
keep  open  the  communication 
with  Saint  Cloud  by  the  avenue 
and  barrier  of  Neuilly.  Three 
regiments  of  the  Line,  the  5ih, 
50th,  and  53d,  received  orders  to 
occupy  the  Place  Vendome,  and 
so  to  stretch  along  from  the  Rue 
de  la  Paix  by  the  interior  Boule- 
vards to  the  Bastille,  thus  consti- 
tuting a  line  in  force,  which  should 
embrace  the  whole  semi-circum- 
ference of  Paris  on  the  northerly 
side.  The  remaining  regiment 
of  the  Line,  the  1 5th,  was  com- 
manded to  occupy  the  large 
squares  of  Sainte  Genevieve,  the 
Palais  de  Justice,  and  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  including  the  Quai  de 
la  Greve.    His  plan  it  seems  was, 


after  thus  securing  possession  of 
the  Boulevards,  Quais,  and  Pla- 
ces, to  keep  open  a  communica- 
tion through  the  great  thorough- 
fares of  the  Rue  Richeheu,  Rue 
Saint  Honore,  and  Rue  Saint 
Denis,  by  detachments  of  cavalry 
or  infantry  charging  upon  the  citi- 
zens as  on  Tuesday.  This  plan 
of  operations  has  been  vehemently 
criticised  and  censured  since  j  and 
after  an  agitating  crisis  is  over  it  is 
easy  to  say  how  things  might  have 
been  done  to  greater  advantage. 
In  military  events,  especially,  every 
body  is  wise  when  it  is  too  late, 
and  wonders  that  a  multitude  of 
things,  apparently  very  simple,  did 
not  occur  at  the  time  to  those,  on 
whom  responsibility  devolved. 
Much  of  the  reflection  cast  upon 
Marmont  is  nothing,  we  imagine, 
but  this  posthumous  wisdom  of 
disappointed  men.  And  the  sim- 
ple truth,  as  we  gather  it  from  the 
different  and  often  contradictory 
opinions  of  conflicting  parties  is, 
that  the  ultimate  refusal  of  the 
four  regiments  of  the  Line  to  co- 
operate with  the  Guards  in  firing 
upon  their  compatriots,  was  the 
real  cause  of  Marmont's  failure  in 
the  successful  accomplishment  of 
his  purpose.  One  half  of  his 
force,  occupying  the  fixed  posi- 
tions, the  points  d^appui  in  the 
city,  became,  as  we  shall  see, 
serviceable  rather  than  otherwise 
to  the  insurgent  citizens,  and  left 
the  whole  contest  to  the  Guards. 

The  first  rencontre  between 
the  citizens  and  the  troops  occur- 
red unexpectedly  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  before  the  Guards  were  put 
in  motion.  Between  nine  and 
ten  Marmont  sent  a  lieutenant  and 
fifteen   men  to   the   Place  de 


336  ANNUAL  REGISTER,   1829  —  80. 


Greve*  to  ascertain  whether  the 
15th  regiment  of  the  Line  had  ar- 
rived there.  On  entering  the 
square  this  little  detachment  was 
immediately  fired  upon  by  the  citi- 
zens, who  killed  one  man  and 
wounded  several  others,  and  would 
have  cut  off  the  whole  body,  but 
for  the  timely  arrival  of  a  battalion, 
which  had  afterwards  been  order- 
ed to  make  a  reconnaissance  in 
the  same  direction.  This  inci- 
dent has  been  greatly  exaggerated 
in  the  accounts  of  the  day,  drawn 
up  and  published  at  the  moment, 
without  any  knowledge  of  the 
plan  marked  out  for  the  troops, 
and  of  course  with  a  very  mistaken 
idea  of  the  object  and  direction  of 
their  movements.  It  is  only  re- 
markable as  the  opening  scene  of 
bloodshed  of  this  day. 
*  Noon  having  come  without 
any  orders  from  Saint  Cloud, 
contrary  to  Marmont's  hopes  and 
desires,  he  was  obliged  to  com- 
mence the  line  of  active  opera- 
tions, upon  which  he  had  decided. 
Reserving  only  a  small  force  to 
guard  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuile- 
ries,  and  having  posted  the  regi- 
ments of  the  Line  as  we  have 
already  stated,  he  divided  his 
remaining  force  into  four  columns 


of  about  equal  strength,  for  the 
performance  of  separate  duties. 
The  first  column,  of  one  battalion, 
two  guns,  and  two  squadrons  of 
horse  grenadiers,  commanded  by 
the  Vicomte  de  Saint  Hilaire,  was 
to  move  from  the  Champs  Ely- 
sees  to  the  church  of  La  Made- 
leine, and  after  following  the 
Boulevards  to  the  Rue  Richelieu 
to  return  to  the  Champs  Elysees. 
The  second  column,  consisting  of 
a  battalion  of  infantry,  two  guns, 
and  three  squadrons  of  cavalry, 
commanded  by  M.  de  Saint  Cha- 
mans,  was  to  follow  the  Rue 
Richelieu  to  the  Boulevards,  and 
then  wheeling  to  the  right  to  march 
by  the  Boulevards  to  the  Bastille, 
and  thence  return  by  the  Rue  St 
Antoine  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
where  it  was  to  meet  the  fourth  col- 
umn. Two  battalions  of  guards 
with  two  guns  and  30  gendarmes, 
under  M.  de  Talon,  were  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  Marche  des  Innocens  : 
thence,  one  battalion  was  to  di- 
verge to  the  left  up  the  Rue  Saint 
Denis  to  the  Porte  St  Denis,  and 
then  return  to  the  Marche  des 
Innocens,  while  the  other  battal- 
ion, which  in  the  meantime  was 
to  diverge  to  the  right  as  far  as 
the  Place  du  Chatelet,  should 


*  In  the  various  accounts  of  the  Three  Days,  the  word  Place  de  Greve  occurs 
frequently,  but  it  is  not  strictly  proper.  The  Hotel  de  Ville  of  Paris  is  situated  on 
the  long  side  of  a  large  square,  which  opens  upon  the  northerly  bank  of  the  Seine, 
and  is  called  the  Place  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville.  A  new  suspension  bridge  ,  called  Pontde 
la  Greve,  crosses  the  river  at  this  point.  The  Quai  Pelletier  opens  into  the  square 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Quai  de  la  Greve  on  the  other.  Near  to  the  entrance  of 
the  bridge,  and  of  course  at  one  end  of  the  square,  is  the  place  of  public  executions, 
where  the  guillotine  is  erected  on  such  occasions.  The  entire  locality  is  popularly 
called  the  Place  de  Greve,  from  the  word  greve,  which  means  a  strand  or  flat  shore  ; 
the  name,  as  applied  to  that  spot,  being  coeval  with  modern  Paris,  and  undoubtedly 
derived  from  the  natural  condition  of  the  bank  of  the  river  there,  and  its  primitive 
use  as  a  landing-place.  The  readers  of  Prior  will  remember  his  allusion  to  the 
particulars  for  which  the  square  is  now  the  most  notorious. 

'  Who  has  e'er  been  at  Paris  must  needs  know  the  Greve, 
The  fatal  retreat  of  the  unfortunate  brave.' 


FRANCE. 


337 


have  returned  to  meet  it ;  and 
here  they  were  to  wait  for  further 
orders.  The  fourth  and  last  col- 
umn, consisting  of  one  battalion  of 
infantry,  a  half  squadron  of  lan- 
cers, and  two  pieces  of  cannon, 
commanded  by  M.  de  Quinsonas, 
were  to  proceed  along  the  Quais 
to  the  Place  de  Greve,  supported 
by  the  18th  regiment  of  light  in- 
fantry, and,  being  there  joined  by 
the  second  column,  to  maintain 
themselves  in  position  at  the  Ho- 
tel de  Ville.  The  several  de- 
tachments accordingly  departed 
upon  the  services  assigned  them 
respectively  ;  but  before  giving  an 
account  of  their  proceedings,  it  is 
proper  to  relate  some  incidents, 
which  soon  afterwards  took  place 
at  the  Tuileries. 

Such  of  the  Deputies  elect  as 
were  in  Paris,  had  met  repeat- 
edly since  the  publication  of  the 
Ordinances,  to  consult  on  the 
course  they  should  pursue.  Be- 
tween two  and  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  a  deputation  from 
these  Deputies,  consisting  of  Gen- 
eral Gerard,  the  Comte  de  Lo- 
bau,  and  MM.  Lafitte,  Casimir 
Perrier,  and  Mauguin,  repaired 
to  head-quarters  to  confer  with 
the  Due  de  Raguse,  and  press 
upon  him  the  importance  of  doing 
something  to  stop  the  effusion  of 
blood.  M.  Lafitte,  who  spoke  in 
behalf  of  the  deputation,  repre- 
sented to  the  Marshal  the  deplor- 
able state  of  the  metropolis,  de- 
clared in  a  state  of  siege,  and 
treated  like  a  town  taken  by  storm, 
blood  flowing  in  all  directions ; 
and  declared  that  the  assembled 
Deputies  of  France  could  not  but 
consider  him  personally  responsi- 
ble for  the  consequences  of  a  con- 
29* 


tinuance  of  hostilities.  The  Mar- 
shal replied  that  he  considered 
obedience  to  the  royal  commands 
a  point  of  honor  as  a  soldier,  and 
asked  for  the  conditions  of  armis- 
tice proposed  by  the  Deputies,  that 
he  might  report  them  to  the  King. 
M.  Lafitte  replied  ;  '  Without 
judging  too  highly  of  our  influ- 
ence, we  think  we  can  be  answer- 
able that  everything  will  return  to 
order  on  the  following  conditions, 
namely,  the  revocation  of  the  ille- 
gal Ordinances  of  the  25th  of 
July,  the  dismissal  of  the  Minis- 
ters, and  the  convocation  of  the 
Chambers  on  the  3d  of  August.' 
The  Marshal  answered,  that  as  a 
citizen  he  might  not  disapprove, 
nay,  might  even  participate  in  the 
opinions  of  the  Deputies,  but  as  a 
soldier  he  had  his  orders,  and  felt 
bound  to  carry  them  into  execu- 
tion. He  was  willing  to  submit 
their  overture  to  the  King  ;  but 
proposed,  as  M.  de  Polignac  was 
now  in  the  Chateau,  to  go  and 
request  him  to  receive  the  depu- 
tation. After  a  short  absence  he 
returned  with  an  altered  counte- 
nance, and  informed  the  Deputies 
that  Polignac  declined  any  con- 
ference, the  conditions  proposed 
rendering  it  wholly  useless.  In 
fact,  the  Ministers  had  fled  from 
their  respective  hotels,  and  taken 
refuge  at  head-quarters,  deter- 
mined to  persist  in  their  folly  and 
madness,  amid  the  rattle  of  mus- 
ketry, the  roar  of  cannon,  and  the 
peal  of  the  tocsin,  with  the  tri- 
colored  flag  everywhere  displayed 
before  their  eyes,  regardless  ot 
the  sufferings  they  inflicted  on 
their  country  in  the  gratification  of 
the  senseless  ambuion  of  a  tyrant. 
M.  Lafitte,  when  he  received  the 


338  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


answer  of  M.  de  Polignac,  took 
leave  with  the  simple  but  impres- 
sive   declaration  :     '  Then  we 

HAVE   CIVIL  WAR.' 

It  would  seem  that  until  this 
time  the  citizens  had  entertained 
some  hope  of  accommodation  ; 
and  it  is  stated,  in  some  of  the  me- 
moirs of  the  Revolution,  that  the 
insurgent  multitude  did  not  feel 
that  it  was  a  desperate  case,  until 
the  deputation  of  their  friends  left 
the  Tuileries.  Meanwhile  pre- 
parations had  been  made  on  a 
large  scale  for  resisting  the  troops 
in  their  progress  through  the  nar- 
row streets.  The  paving  stones 
were  torn  up,  and  carried  to  the 
upper  rooms  of  the  houses,  to  be 
hurled  on  the  heads  of  the  troops. 
Bullets  were  cast  by  the  women 
in  the  shops  and  at  the  doors. 
Those  who  had  arms  of  any  kind 
stood  ready  to  use  them  :  those 
who  had  not,  disposed  themselves 
to  employ  such  humble  missiles 
as  they  could  obtain,  and  to  aid 
their  brethren  by  their  presence 
and  acclamations  in  default  of 
possessing  the  means  of  active  co- 
operation. In  these  circumstan- 
ces the  projected  movements  of 
the  troops  began. 

M.  de  Saint  Hilaire's  column 
performed  the  service  allotted  to 
them  without  difficulty,  being 
marched  through  spacious  streets 
not  inhabited  by  a  belligerent  pop- 
ulation. But  their  movement,  as 
it  was  comparatively  free  of  dan- 
ger, so  was  it  of  no  consequence 
in  any  point  of  view,  —  neither 
benefiting  the  King  nor  injuring 
the  citizens. 

The  second  column  marched 
up  the  Rue  Richelieu  through  a 
dense  crowd,  but  proceeded  along 
the  Boulevards  without  encoun- 


tering much  resistance  as  far  as 
the  Porte  Saint  Denis.  Here 
they  were  fired  upon  from  the 
houses,  and  even  from  the  top  of 
the  arch  of  Porte  Saint  Denis  it- 
self. As  the  column  advanced, 
the  firing  increased.  "When  M. 
de  Saint  Chamans  reached  the 
Porte  Saint  Martin  he  found  the 
opposition  to  his  further  progress 
so  earnest,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
countermarch  his  cavalry  behind 
his  infantry,  which,  thus  unmask- 
ed, fired  upon  the  citizens  by 
platoons  ;  and  thus,  with  the  aid 
of  artillery,  the  column  broke 
through  the  multitude  and  con- 
tinued its  advance.  Meanwhile 
the  citizens  had  begun  to  erect  > 
barricades  in  this  quarter,  and  al- 
though the  troops  surmounted 
them  now,  yet  they  were  con- 
structed so  fast,  that  it  would  have 
been  next  to  impossible  for  the 
troops  to  return  the  same  way.  — 
As  the  column  proceeded,  they 
passed  the  50th  regiment  of  the 
Line  near  the  Chateau  d'Eau,  or 
large  fountain  of  the  Rue  de  Bon- 
di,  where  they  had  been  stationed 
ever  since  the  morning.  Beyond 
this  point,  as  they  approached  the 
Bastille  through  the  Boulevard  du 
Temple  and  Saint  Antoine,  they 
entered  into  a  large  mass  of  the 
workmen  of  the  faubourgs,  sur- 
passing, both  in  boldness  and  num- 
bers, the  insurgents  whom  they 
had  previously  encountered.  The 
troops  advanced  in  close  columns, 
occupying  the  width  of  the  Bou- 
levard, preceded  by  a  party  of 
soldiers  ranged  as  sharp-shooters, 
who  fired  in  the  air,  and  at  the 
windows,  their  object  being  to 
prevent  the  latter  from  being  se- 
curely occupied  by  the  armed 
citizens.    The  large  open  space 


FRANCE. 


339 


of  the  Place  de  la  Bastille  speedi- 
ly became  the  scene  of  a  sangui- 
Dary  contest. 

M.  de  Saint  Chamans  easily 
drove  out  the  multitude  to  make 
room  for  his  troops  ;  but  the  citi- 
zens only  withdrew  to  the  houses 
and  the  numerous  streets  opening 
upon  the  square,  from  whence 
they  maintained  a  persevering 
fire,  which  of  course  was  return- 
ed by  the  soldiers.  The  column 
drove  the  people  before  it  when- 
ever the  attempt  was  made,  but 
was  prevented  from  marching  up 
the  Rue  Saint  Antoine  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  as  it  had  been  or- 
dered to  do,  by  the  barricades 
erected  in  that  street,  and  by  the 
hostility  of  the  citizens,  who  not 
only  fired  continually  upon  the 
troops,  but  poured  down  upon 
them  a  continual  shower  of  stones, 
tiles,  glass,  and  articles  of  furni- 
ture, from  the  house  windows. 
Of  course,  many  lives  were  lost 
in  this  quarter,  and  great  injury 
was  done  to  the  houses,  by  the 
discharge  of  muskets  and  field- 
pieces.  Finding  it  impracticable, 
at  length,  to  complete  the  route 
assigned  to  him,  M.  de  Saint  Cha- 
mans crossed  the  river  at  the 
Pont  d'Austerlitz,  and  as  it  were 
stole  off  to  the  Tuileries  by  the 
back  way  of  the  other  side  of  the 
Seine.  The  citizens  of  the  Rue 
Saint  Antoine  looked  upon  the 
movement  of  the  troops  in  that  di- 
rection as  a  triumph,  and  suppos- 
ed that  they  had  been  recalled  in 
consequence  of  the  success  of  the 
insurrection  at  head-quarters.  — 
Thus  nothing  was  accomplished 
by  this  column,  which  left  the  cit- 
izens in  possession  of  the  confi- 
dent feelings  of  supposed  victory, 


and  left  them  free  to  unite  their 
strength  to  that  of  the  insurgents- 
in  the  heart  of  the  city. 

The  operations  of  the  third  col- 
umn  ended  still  more  unsatisfac- 
torily. To  reach  the  Marche  des 
Innocens,  they  marched  through 
the  Rue  Saint  Honore,  where 
they  were  continually  exposed  to 
a  severe  fire  from  the  windows, 
court-yards,  and  narrow  streets  or 
alleys  along  their  route,  and  sub- 
jected to  showers  of  paving  stones, 
and  other  missiles,  to  which,  as 
marching  in  a  dense  body,  they 
were  necessarily  much  exposed^ 
They  were  received  with  a  sharp 
fire  at  the  Marche  itself,  but  soon 
made  good  their  position,  and 
prepared  to  execute  their  orders. 
M.  de  Talon  lost  no  time  in  de- 
taching a  battalion  up  the  Rue 
Saint  Denis,  but  found  it  neces- 
sary to  depart  from  the  plan 
marked  out  for  him,  until  the  re- 
turn of  this  detachment  should 
make  him  feel  strong  enough  to 
proceed  down  the  Rue  Saint 
Denis  to  the  Place  de  Chatelet. 
Accordingly  a  battalion  under 
Colonel  Pleineselve  made  its  way 
up  the  Rue  Saint  Denis  to  the 
Boulevards.  But  in  doing  so,  it 
suffered  severely  from  the  citi- 
zens, who,  in  this  quarter,  had 
always  manifested  a  determined 
spirit.  They  had  erected  so 
many  barricades  in  this  street, 
amounting  it  is  said  to  thirty  m 
all,  that,  although  the  troops 
surmounted  every  obstacle,  and 
finally  gained  the  Porte  Saint 
Denis,  it  was  a  work  of  infinite 
labor  and  much  time ;  and  when 
they  reached  the  end  of  their  ap- 
pointed march,  they  found  thaS 
the  barricades  had  been  renewed.  - 


340 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


and  strengthened  behind  them, 
so  that  it  was  impossible  to  re- 
join their  comrades,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  Boulevards  were 
equally  blocked  up  on  each  side 
of  them  :  so  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  field  and 
return  to  the  Tuileries  by  the  Rue 
du  Faubourg  Saint  Denis  and 
the  outskirts  of  the  city. 

Meanwhile  the  residue  of  the 
third  column  was  left  in  a  most 
perilous  situation,  in  the  Marche 
des  Innocens,  blocked  up  and 
harassed  by  a  continually  aug- 
menting multitude  of  people,  who 
were  walling  up  the  streets  with 
barricades.  Finding  that  his  am- 
munition began  to  run  short,  the 
commander  was  compelled  to 
despatch  an  aide-de-camp  dis- 
guised in  the  dress  of  a  citizen,  to 
obtain  relief.  In  fact,  the  troops 
at  this  point  suffered  more,  and 
the  conflict  waged  here  was  more 
sanguinary,  than  at  any  other  point 
except  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The 
messenger  succeeded  in  reaching 
head  quarters,  and  a  battalion  of 
Swiss  Guards  was  immediately 
despatched  to  relieve  the  disheart- 
ened troops.  The  poor  Swiss 
missed  their  way,  as  wiser  men 
might  easily  have  done,  amid  the 
blind  alleys  and  crooked  streets 
through  which  they  had  to  pass ; 
and  reached  the  Marche  at  last, 
barely  in  season  to  rescue  the  re- 
mains of  the  third  column,  and 
conduct  them  back  by  the  Place 
du  Chatelet  and  the  Quais  to  the 
Louvre,  where  they  took  a  posi- 
tion. 

The  three  columns,  whose 
movements  we  have  followed, 
were  engaged  in  a  series  of  skir- 
mishes, which  ended  in  defeating 


the  whole  plan  of  operations  for 
the  day,  so  far  as  they  were  con- 
cerned. The  fourth  column  alone 
sustained  a  genuine  battle.  It 
was  not  anticipated,  when  they 
started  from  the  Tuileries,  that 
they  were  strong  enough  to  per- 
form alone  the  service  on  which 
they  were  sent ;  for  the  second 
column  was  to  have  joined  them 
at  the  Greve,  which  both  united 
were  to  defend  against  ihe  citi- 
zens. But  as  we  have  already 
seen,  the  second  column  was 
compelled  to  leave  the  fourth  to 
its  fate  ;  and  of  course,  when  the 
latter  reached  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
it  found  itself  alone.  They  pro- 
ceeded by  the  Quais  as  far  as  the 
Pont  Neuf,  and  there,  instead  of 
continuing  directly  to  the  Place 
de  Greve,  they  crossed  the  Seine, 
and  passed  along  the  Quai  de 
I'Horloge  to  the  Marche  aux 
Fleurs,  which  abuts  on  the  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  a  bridge  a  litde  to 
the  westward  of  the  Pont  de  la 
Greve,  and  opposite  the  Quai 
Pelletier,  which  opens  into  the 
Greve.  The  general  decided  to 
recross  the  river  by  the  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  sending  forward  a 
detachment  to  make  a  demons- 
tration by  the  Pont  de  la  Greve. 
At  the  Pont  Neuf  he  had  found 
part  of  the  15ih  regiment  of  the 
Line,  which,  by  virtue  of  orders 
from  the  Due  de  Raguse,  he  re- 
quired to  support  him  in  his 
movement  on  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
One  battalion  of  these  troops  of 
the  Line  followed  the  Guards 
across  the  Pont  Notre  Dame, 
while  others  remained  on  the 
Marche  aux  Fleurs  to  observe 
that  neighborhood. 

Early  on  this  day  the  citizens 


FRANCE. 


341 


had  entered  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
for  the  purpose  of  ringing  the  toc- 
sin and  hoisting  the  tricolored  flag. 
They  did  not  attempt,  however, 
to  convert  the  edifice  itself  into  a 
military  position,  but  were  content- 
ed with  occupying  the  square  and 
the  neighboring  streets.  Here, 
in  the  course  of  the  day,  they  had 
collected  in  great  numbers,  and 
had  become  in  a  qualified  degree 
organized,  so  as  to  act  in  masses 
and  under  the  direction  of  leaders. 
When  they  saw  the  troops  ap- 
proaching, they  marched  forward 
with  drums  beating  to  occupy  the 
bridge,  by  which  the  Guards  were 
to  cross  the  river.  M.  Bermond 
de  Vacheres,  the  commanding 
officer,  caused  his  cannon  to  be 
brought  to  the  middle  of  the 
bridge,  and  then  rode  forward 
himself  to  conjure  the  people  to 
retire  and  give  him  free  passage. 
But  the  citizens  refused  to  hear 
him  ;  and  an  adjutant  having  been 
killed  at  his  side  by  their  fire,  he 
dispersed  them  by  a  discharge  of 
grape  shot,  and  occupied  the 
Quai  de  Gevres  and  Quai  Pelle- 
tier  at  the  termination  of  the 
bridge.  In  the  mean  time  the 
detachment,  which  was  to  cross 
the  Pont  de  la  Greve,  and  which 
ought  to  have  waited  for  the  oth- 
er detachment  coming  up  by 
the  Quai  Pelletier,  so  that  both 
should  enter  the  Place  de  Greve 
together,  had  rushed  on  impetu- 
ously, and  entered  the  square 
alone,  where  it  was  exposed  to 
the  whole  fire  of  the  people  from 
the  houses,  the  square,  and  the 
corners  of  the  streets  opening  into 
it.  At  length  the  other  division 
of  the  column  came  on  to  the  sup- 
port of  their  comrades,  and  they 


succeeded  in  gaining  possession  of 
the  square,  and  for  a  time  silenc- 
ing the  fire  from  the  houses,  al- 
though it  was  still  continued  out 
of  one  of  the  cross  streets  called 
Rue  du  Mouton,  and  from  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Seine, 

In  the  Rue  du  Mouton  the 
citizens  had  entrenched  them- 
selves behind  barricades,  and  se^ 
verely  annoyed  the  troops  on  the 
square.  '1  he  Guards  charged 
up  the  street,  and  carried  the 
barricade,  but  it  was  soon  re- 
taken by  the  citizens,  who  from 
time  to  time  renewed  their  fire  also 
from  the  houses.  The  Guards  had 
reckoned  on  being  supported  in 
their  position  by  the  light  infantry 
of  the  line,  posted  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river.  When,  howev- 
er, the  Guards  in  the  Place  de 
Greve  began  to  suffer  from  the 
fire  of  the  citizens  on  the  oppo- 
site Quais,  messages  were  sent  to 
the  officer  of  the  Line  who  com- 
manded there,  and  finally  he  re- 
fused to  interfere.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  the  citizens,  se^ 
cure  behind  the  heavy  stone  para- 
pets,  which  in  Paris  border  the 
Quais  along  the  banks  of  theriver^ 
and  protected  in  some  sort  by 
the  soldiers  of  the  15th  regiment^ 
soon  filled  the  Quai  de  la  Cite, 
on  which  the  suspension  bridge  of 
the  Greve  abuts,  and  kept  up  a 
well  sustained  fire  on  the  Guards., 

Such  was  the  situation  of  things 
when  a  body  of  cuirassiers,  which 
had  been  detached  from  the 
column  commanded  by  M.  de 
Saint  Chamans  for  the  purpose, 
came  to  announce  to  the  Guards 
in  the  Place  de  Greve  that  the 
long  expected  column  had  been 
obliged  to  return  to  head-quarters.. 


342 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


instead  of  coming  to  their  sup- 
port. The  cuirassiers  had  fought 
their  way  along  through  innu- 
merable difficulties,  and  only  suc- 
ceeded in  entering  the  Greve  by 
means  of  a  powerful  diversion 
made  by  the  column  there,  to  as- 
sist them  in  doing  it.  The  cuir- 
assiers were  followed  by  the  50th 
regiment  of  the  Line,  under  M. 
de  Maussion.  They  had  volun- 
tarily abandoned  their  position  on 
the  Boulevards  to  return  to  their 
barrack  ;  but  finding  it  occupied 
by  the  insurgents,  they  had  con- 
tinued onward  to  the  Greve,  after 
an  express  engagement  with  M. 
de  Maussion  not  to  act  against 
the  Parisians,  and  were  now  plac- 
ed in  the  interior  court  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  command- 
ing officer  of  the  Guards,  finding, 
after  five  hours  of  continual  firing, 
that  his  ammunition  began  to  fall 
short,  now  sent  to  the  Tuileries 
for  succor.  A  detachment  of  two 
hundred  Swiss  accordingly  came 
to  their  relief ;  and  in  the  move- 
ments necessary  for  placing  the 
Swiss  in  the  position  occupied  by 
the  Guards  some  confusion  oc- 
curring, the  citizens  took  advan- 
tage of  it,  and  made  a  simultaneous 
attack  on  the  troops  from  all 
points.  Although  repulsed  by 
the  murderous  discharges  of  the 
Guards,  the  people  continually 
returned  to  the  attack,  with  the 
courage  and  perseverance  of  vet- 
eran soldiers,  giving  the  Guards 
but  little  respite  and  no  opportu- 
nity for  repose,  while  the  cavalry 
were  perpetually  exposed  to  the 
plunging  fire  of  the  citizens  on  the 
Quai  de  la  Cite. 

This  state  of  things  becoming 
insupportable  to  the  troops,  they 


determined  to  retire  into  the  Ho- 
tel de  Ville,  abandoning  the  de- 
fence of  the  square  and  its  out- 
posts. M.  de  Bermond  says  that 
the  insurgents  mistaking  this 
movement  for  a  retreat,  followed 
it  up  with  another  general  attack. 
There  was  no  mistake  about  it. 
There  is  no  meaning  in  words  if 
it  was  not  a  retreat.  The  ammu- 
nition of  the  Guards  was  wholly 
exhausted,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  have  recourse  for  a  partial 
supply  to  the  regiment  of  the 
Line,  who  were  quiet  spectators 
of  the  scene.  The  Guards  were 
in  fact  compelled  to  take  refuge  in 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  they 
would  cease  to  be  a  mark  for  the 
sharp-shooters  among  ihe  citizens, 
and  could  themselves  fire  upon 
the  people  from  a  sheltered  post, 
while  their  horses  were  safe  in 
the  court-yard  of  the  Hotel.  Here, 
therefore,  the  troops  remained  un- 
til towards  night,  when  a  disguis- 
ed messenger  arrived,  and  an- 
nounced to  them  that  they  were 
to  evacuate  their  position,  and  re- 
treat to  the  Tuileries  as  they  best 
could.  It  was  concluded  to  wait 
until  midnight,  when  it  was  pre- 
sumed the  Parisians  would  have 
retired  to  their  homes,  and  then 
to  retreat  by  the  same  route  they 
had  come,  as  the  Conciergerie 
and  other  public  buildings  occu- 
pied a  considerable  space  along 
the  southern  Quais,  and  of  course 
the  people  were  less  likely  to  in- 
terrupt their  march  by  firing  from 
windows  in  that  quarter,  than  from 
the  closely  inhabited  tenements  of 
the  direct  course  by  the  Quai  de 
la  Megisserie. 

These  troops  were  thus  engag- 
ed for  twelve  hours,  without  any 


FRANCE. 


343 


food,  or  any  refreshment,  except 
a  few  bottles  of  wine  much  dilu- 
ted with  water,  which  the  soldiers 
bought  of  some  wine-sellers  on  or 
near  the  square.  The  number  of 
their  killed  and  wounded  is  various- 
ly stated,  but  amounted,  it  would 
seem,  to  two  hundred  or  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  all.*  The  de- 
struction of  the  citizens  was  un- 
doubtedly much  greater,  as  they 
exposed  themselves  unreflectingly, 
and  were  subject  to  the  shot  of 
cannon  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain the  exact  number  that  fell  at 
this  particular  part  of  the  city. 
Many  bodies  were  thrown  into  the 
Seine  ;  and  although,  as  we  shall 
state  hereafter,  calculations  were 
made  as  to  the  number  of  killed 
and  wounded  by  the  returns  of  the 
hospitals,  and  so  forth,  yet  these 
calculations  do  not  fix  the  extent 
of  the  destruction  of  life  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  But  all  the 
blood  shed  here  was  cheaply  ex- 
pended, the  result  of  its  effu- 
sion being  all  important,  because 
it  was  in  fact  a  decided  vic- 
tory in  itself  and  in  its  conse- 
quences upon  the  royal  cause. 
The  Guards  retreated  at  midnight, 
as  had  been  arranged,  and  it  was 
well  for  them  that  they  did  not 
longer  delay  their  march,  as  the 
number  of  barricades  was  in- 
creasing every  hour,  and  their  re- 
turn would  soon  have  been  im- 
practicable. They  found  the 
1 5th  regiment  of  the  Line  posted 
very  tranquilly  at  the  Palais  de 
Justice  and  on  the  Pont  Neuf, 


observing  a  very  patient  neutrality 
in  this  war  between  Charles  X. 
and  the  population  of  Paris. 

Thus  terminated  the  military 
operations  of  Wednesday  the  28th 
of  July.  They  had  wholly  failed 
of  their  intended  effect  on  every 
point.  Three  of  the  four  columns 
had  been  fairly  beaten,  or  at  least 
beaten  off,  in  the  enterprises  they 
had  undertaken.  Whatever  suc- 
cess they  may  have  had  in  a 
military  point  of  view,  —  for  the 
Carlists  flatter  themselves  with 
the  consolation  that  in  a  military 
point  of  view  the  troops  succeed- 
ed, because  they  made  good  cer- 
tain positions  for  a  time,  —  yet 
morally  speaking  they  were  totally 
and  absolutely  vanquished.  There 
is  no  question  about  this  in  truth 
and  in  fact.  They  had  attempted 
certain  objects,  and  had  been 
driven  back  to  head-quarters, 
leaving  those  objects  but  half  ac- 
complished at  best,  and  the  field 
of  battle  in  possession  of  the  in- 
surgents. This  would  be  called 
victory  by  all  rational  men,  what- 
ever the  advocates  of  despotism, 
English  or  French,  may  see  fit  to 
term  it.  As  for  the  first  column, 
it  did  nothing,  good  or  bad,  and 
therefore  does  not  vary  the  result. 
We  should  add  that  some  irregu- 
lar skirmishing  occurred  in  the 
course  of  the  day  between  the 
citizens  and  the  Gendarmerie,  or 
small  parties  of  the  Guards,  in  the 
Rue  Saint  Honore,  the  Place  du 
Palais  Royal,  and  the  Place  des 
Victoires.     Marshal  Marmont 


*  M.  de  Bermond  says  there  were  50  or  60  wounded  to  he  carried  away  in  the 
retreat.  M.  Delaunay,  another  officer,  says  the  wounded  amounted  to  150  or  200 
men.  The  difference  is  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  M.  de  Bermond  speaks 
of  the  badly  wounded  only,  and  M.  de  Delaunay  of  all  the  wounded.  M.  de  Ber- 
mond speaks  of  40  men  being  hors  de  combat  at  five  o'clock. 


344  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


himself  having  occasion  to  visit 
the  post  at  the  Bank,  had  a  nar- 
row escape  on  the  way.  With 
ihe  exception  of  these  little  skir- 
mishes, our  account  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  four  columns  of  the 
Guards  exhibits  all  the  fighting 
which  took  place  on  Wednesday. 

The  fatigued  and  dispirited 
troops,  who  had  been  contending 
all  day  under  a  burning  sun  in 
July  without  any  nourishment, 
found  that  no  arrangements  had 
been  made  for  provisioning  them 
at  head-quarters.  By  some  ex- 
traordinary neglect,  they  were  left 
destitute  of  supplies,  when  the 
Government  had  the  command  of 
all  the  avenues  to  the  city,  and 
might  have  provided  food  in 
abundance.  The  insurgents,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  plentifully 
supplied  with  every  necessary,  the 
whole  city  being  anxious  to  suc- 
cor the  wounded  and  to  relieve 
the  wants  of  all.  In  the  course 
of  the  evening,  detachments  of 
Guards  came  in  from  Versailles  and 
Rueil,  about  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  in  number ;  but  these,  it 
is  said,  did  not  quite  compensate 
for  the  losses,  which  the  garrison 
of  Paris  had  already  sustained. 
Much  of  the  loss  consisted  of  sol- 
diers disarmed  and  dispersed  at 
the  different  posts  about  the  city 
before  the  combats  began  :  the 
rest,  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
in  the  various  engagements.  The 
Guards  expected  to  have  been 
received  at  the  Tuileries  by  the 
King  or  the  Dauphin,  in  whose 
behalf  they  had  been  all  day 
fighting ;  but  those  worthy  per- 
sonages, we  suppose,  had  been 
too  busily  occupied  in  hunting,  to 
have  time  for  thanking  the  il- 


merited  devotion  of  their  house- 
hold troops.  Towards  night  the 
King  was  fully  informed  by  the 
Due  de  Raguse  of  the  exact  state 
of  things,  by  means  of  his  aide 
M.  de  Komierouski,  as  well  as  by 
written  communication.  Mar- 
mont  was  anxious  to  impress  upon 
Charles  the  necessity  of  some 
accommodation,  as  the  only  meth- 
od to  preserve  his  Crown.  But 
the  only  answer  the  King  gave 
was  an  injunction  to  the  Marshal 
'  to  persevere,  to  assemble  bis 
forces  on  the  Place  du  Carrousel 
and  the  Place  Louis  XV.,  and  to 
act  with  masses ;'  thus  impliedly 
censuring  the  conduct  of  Mar- 
mont  in  dividing  his  forces,  and 
scattering  them  over  Paris. 

We  have  occasionally  referred 
to  the  conduct  of  the  troops  of  the 
Line  on  this  day  as  favorable  to 
the  insurgents.  Their  sense  of 
discipline  did  not  permit  them  to 
engage  in  the  insurrection,  while 
on  the  other  hand  their  pohtical 
convictions  prevented  their  aiding 
the  household  troops.  So  early 
as  Tuesday  a  detachment  of  the 
5th  regiment,  being  marched  into 
the  Place  du  Palais  Royal,  enter- 
ed into  an  engagement  not  to  fire 
on  the  citizens,  and  was  received 
by  the  latter  with  loud  manifesta- 
tions of  applause.  It  is  said  that 
this  same  5th  regiment  being  or- 
dered to  '  make  ready'  to  fire  on 
the  people  on  the  Boulevards, 
obeyed  ;  and  when  the  word  '  pre- 
sent' was  given,  turned  their  pieces 
on  their  Colonel,  waiting  for  the 
order  to  fire.  Whether  this  an- 
ecdote is  true  or  not,  certain  it  is, 
that  the  three  regiments  posted 
along  the  Boulevards,  fraternized 
with  the  people  in  a  very  short 


FRANCE. 


345 


time,  and  only  maintained  their 
position,  without  offering  any  an- 
noyance to  the  armed  citizens, 
who  continually  greeted  them 
with  cries  of  '  Vive  la  Ligne  !' 
The  defection  of  the  15th  was 
more  signal,  because  they  were  in 
full  view  of  the  Guards  on  the 
Place  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  who 
stood  in  pressing  need  of  their 
support.  But  all  they  did  was  to 
stand  quietly  where  they  were 
drawn  up,  gently  keeping  back 
the  people  when  they  pressed  too 
closely,  and  complaining  to  the 
latter  of  remaining  drawn  up  un- 
der a  hot  sun  all  day  without  meat 
or  drink.  The  fact  is  the  soldiers 
of  the  Line  heartily  sympathized 
with  the  insurgent  citizens,  and 
the  officers  generally  concurred 
with  the  liberal  party  in  their 
opinions  of  the  obnoxious  Ordi- 
nances, and  were  contented  with 
keeping  their  men  quiet,  without 
seeking  to  bring  them  into  con- 
flict with  the  Parisians. 

Indeed  the  Guards  should  re- 
ceive the  credit  of  having  perform- 
ed their  bloody  task  with  extreme 
reluctance,  and  a  praiseworthy 
degree  of  forbearance,  where  this 
was  consistent  whh  obedience  to 
orders,  greatly  to  their  honor. 
We  have  seen  what  took  place  on 
the  Pont  Notre  Dame,  before  the 
troops  fired ;  and  the  case  was 
not  a  solitary  one.  We  copy  one 
of  the  popular  accounts,  in  stat- 
ing, that  when  the  cavalry  of  the 
Guard  charged  for  the  first  time, 
an  officer  cried  out  to  the  people, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  '  For  the 
iove  of  God,  in  the  name  of  Hea- 
ven, go  to  your  homes.'  When 
the  Guards  were  ordered  to  fire 
from  the  Hotel  on  the  Quai  d'Or- 
30 


say,  they  levelled  their  pieces 
above  the  heads  of  the  people,  so 
as  to  intimidate  without  inflicting 
injury.  In  the  streets,  they  ap- 
peared to  feel  that  they  Vv^ere  per- 
forming a  most  painful  duty,  being 
evidently  filled  with  gloomy  anti- 
cipations of  the  future.  It  is  also 
remarked  of  the  cavalry  that  they 
displayed  great  forbearance  on 
all  occasions.  The  lancers,  cui- 
rassiers, and  mounted  gendarmes 
were  engaged  everywhere,  and 
were  the  special  objects  of  popu- 
lar resentment,  especially  the  lan- 
cers and  cuirassiers,  who  were 
pertinaciously  assailed  in  every 
possible  way.  They  made  fre- 
quent and  furious  charges,  they 
were  shot  and  bruised,  and  their 
horses  killed  or  lamed  under 
them,  by  bullets,  stones,  bottles, 
and  other  missiles,  and  they  struck 
down  many  persons  in  return. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  astonishing  how 
few  men  were  wounded,  during 
the  Three  Days,  by  thrusts  of  the 
lance  or  sabre  cuts.  The  caval- 
ry also  fired  their  pistols  and  car- 
bines frequently,  but  still  with  lit- 
tle effect.  The  comparative  in- 
efficiency of  their  operations  may 
be  partly  ascribed  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  their  situation,  but  more 
to  their  feelings  of  humanity,  and 
unwillingness  to  imbrue  their 
hands  in  the  blood  of  their  fellow 
citizens. 

Their  aversion  to  the  service 
on  which  they  were  employed 
was  not  diminished  by  the  events 
of  the  day.  One  of  the  officers  of 
the  Guard  resigned  his  commis- 
sion, in  a  letter  to  M.  de  Polig- 
nac,  the  acting  Secretary  of  War, 
which  deserves  to  be  record- 
ed for  the  manly  sentiment  it 


346 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


speaks.  It  is  in  the  following 
words  : 

'  MONSEIGNEUR  I 

'  After  a  day  of  bloodshed  and 
disaster,  undertaken  against  all 
divine  and  human  laws,  and  in 
which  I  have  borne  a  part  from 
a  respect  to  human  authority  for 
which  I  now  reproach  myself,  my 
conscience  forbids  me  to  serve 
one  moment  longer. 

'  I  have  in  my  life  given  too 
many  proofs  of  my  devoted ness 
to  the  King,  not  to  be  permitted, 
without  my  intentions  being  ca- 
lumniated, to  distinguish  between 
what  emanates  from  him,  and  atro- 
cities committed  in  his  name. 

'  I  have  therefore  the  honor  to 
beg  you,  Monseigneur,  to  lay  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  his  Majesty  my 
resignation  as  Captain  of  his 
Guard. 

'  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &:c. 

*  The  Count  Raoul  de  Latour 
Du  Pin.' 
July  28, 1830. 

While  discontent,  disaffection, 
and  the  conviction  of  being  em- 
barked in  a  bad  and  a  losing 
cause  paralysed  the  royal  troops, 
the  Parisians  were  busy  in  confi- 
dent preparations  for  renewing 
the  contest  on  the  ensuing  day. 
They  had  seen  the  advantage  of 
the  barricades  hastily  thrown  up 
by  them  during  the  agitation  of 
battle,  and  they  resolved  to  avail 
themselves  to  the  utmost  of  the 
facilities  which  the  city  afforded, 
for  thus  obstructing  the  evolutions 
of  cavalry  and  artillery.  No 
sooner  had  the  Guards  begun  to 
recede  than  all  classes,  ages,  and 
sexes  devoted  themselves  to  the 


task  of  heaving  up  these  ready 
fortifications.  The  pavements  of 
Paris  consist  of  large  cubic  stones 
broken  into  shape,  and  these  were 
dug  up  and  piled  into  thick  walls 
stretching  breast  high  across  the 
streets.  These  heavy  mounds 
were  surmounted  or  strengthened 
with  barrels  full  of  stones,  and 
large  beams  and  gates,  while  eve- 
ry species  of  carriages,  the  huge 
diligences  of  the  Messageries 
Royales  or  of  Lafiitte  and  Cail- 
lard,  the  long  omnibuses,  fiacres, 
cabriolets,  wagons,  private  coach- 
es, —  all  were  indiscriminately 
seized,  and  converted  into  ram- 
parts to  block  up  the  principal 
thoroughfares.  On  the  Boule- 
vards the  fine  trees,  which  adorn- 
ed that  noble  avenue,  were  sacri- 
ficed in  the  cause  of  patriotism, 
and  cut  down  to  perform  their 
part  in  the  grand  system  of  barri- 
cades, which  now  rendered  Paris 
utterly  impassable  for  horses  or 
any  kind  of  vehicle.  In  fact,  the 
Guards  were  thus  effectually  shut 
out  of  every  part  of  the  city,  ex- 
cept the  open  spaces  which  they 
occupied  about  the  Tuileries. 

We  may  observe  that  Paris 
presents  facilities,  in  the  style  of 
its  buildings,  for  being  put  in  a 
state  of  defence,  far  beyond  the 
large  cities  of  the  United  States. 
The  inhabitants  of  all  classes  are 
in  the  habit  of  residing  in  flats,  so 
that  a  respectable  family  instead 
of  occupying  all  the  parts  of  the 
building  as  with  us,  often  dwells 
on  a  single  story,  with  other  fam- 
ilies above  and  below  it.  Of 
course  they  enter  from  the 
street  by  a  single  door,  which  is 
commonly  a  large  porte  cochere, 
opening  perhaps  into  a  courtyard. 


FRANCE. 


347 


with  the  buildings  in  a  quadran- 
gle surrounding  it.  This  common 
entrance  is  generally  kept  closed, 
and  is  always  attended  by  a  por- 
ter, whose  business  it  is  to  open 
and  shut  it  when  occasion  requires, 
and  to  receive  the  messages,  let- 
ters, and  so  forth,  intended  for 
the  families  within.  Thus  it  hap- 
pens that  the  houses  present  to 
the  street  a  solid  defensible  front, 
difficult  of  attack,  and  afford  a 
safe  shelter  to  marksmen,  whence 
they  may  fire  upon  troops  as  they 
go  along  with  hardly  the  least  de- 
gree of  hazard.  In  the  narrow 
streets,  where  the  buildings  are 
lofty,  and  inhabited  by  many  per- 
sons in  the  humble  walks  of  life, 
the  peculiarities  in  their  construc- 
tion greatly  favored  the  people, 
and  were  in  the  same  way  the 
source  of  much  embarrassment  to 
the  military. 

Thursday  the  29th  of  July  at 
length  arrived.  The  tocsin  had 
been  ringing  out  its  melancholy 
peal  during  the  night,  summoning 
the  citizens  to  arm  for  this  last 
day  of  the  battles  of  liberty.  Yes- 
terday and  the  day  before  the  in- 
discriminate populace  of  Paris, 
the  small  shopkeepers,  artificers, 
and  workmen  of  the  faubourgs, 
had  covered  themselves  with  glo- 
ry as  the  unofficered,  undisciplined, 
unorganized  soldiers  of  the  Char- 
ter. Call  them  National  Guards,  or 
call  them  citizens,  they  were  at  any 
rate  mere  popular  assemblages, 
without  any  responsible  head,  or 
any  leaders,  other  than  such  as 
boldness  of  spirit  and  strength  of 
body  created  on  the  spot.  But 
today  the  aspect  of  things  was 
changed.  La  Fayette,  Gerard, 
Dubourg,  Lobau,  the  veteran  sons 


of  the  Revolution,  wise  in  coun- 
cil and  brave  in  the  field,  came 
forth  to  communicate  vigor  and 
character  to  the  heroic  efforts  of 
the  Parisians.  The  assembled 
Deputies  of  France  had  assumed 
the  insurrection,  and  had  given  it 
their  sanction  as  a  movement  of 
the  French  Nation.  The  tricolor ^ 
the  proscribed  badge  of  regi- 
cides and  jacobins,  the  sacrilegi- 
ous symbol  of  revolutionary  fury, 
was  now  the  livery  of  all  in  Paris, 
whether  high  or  low,  except  the 
beleaguered  Praetorian  cohorts  of 
the  wanton  violator  of  his  oath,  of 
the  infatuated  usurper  of  the  lib- 
erties of  his  native  country.  Nor 
were  subordinate  leaders  now 
wanting,  to  direct  the  mechanical 
operations  of  actual  combat,  inspir- 
iting by  their  zeal,  and  organizing 
by  their  science  the  brave  bands 
of  the  barricades  in  these  the 
closing  triumphs  of  the  glorious 
Three  Days.  The  ardent  young 
students  of  the  Schools  of  Law 
and  Medicine  and  the  beardless 
boys  of  the  Polytechnic  School 
had  appeared  occasionally  in  the 
scene  on  Wednesday,  but  in  small 
numbers  and  as  common  combat- 
ants. Today  they  came  forth  in 
a  body,  particularly  the  young 
men  of  the  Polytechnic  School ; 
and  instantly  gaining  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  by  their  mani- 
fest intrepidity  and  skill,  they  soon 
introduced  a  certain  degree  of 
regularity  and  of  discipline  among 
the  soldiers  of  the  Charter. 

The  Polytechnic  School  (Ecole 
Polytechnique)  is  one  of  the  no- 
ble institutions,  to  which  the  Rev- 
olution gave  birth.  It  was  found- 
ed by  a  decree  of  the  National 
Convention  in  1794  by  the  name 


348 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30, 


of  Ecole  Centrale,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  took  the  appellation  it 
now  bears  ;  its  great  utility  having 
secured  to  it  the  protection  of  ev- 
ery succeeding  government  in 
France  from  that  time  to  the 
present.  Its  principal  object  is  to 
give  instruction  in  those  branches 
of  science,  which  prepare  for  the 
pursuits  of  the  engineer  and  the 
soldier.  The  ordinary  mathe- 
matical and  physical  sciences, 
together  with  engineering,  civil, 
military,  and  naval  gunnery,  and 
other  departments  of  the  applica- 
tion of  abstract  science  to  the  arts 
of  peace  and  war  allied  to  these, 
form  the  studies  of  the  Polytech- 
nic School.  A  large  number  of 
excellent  officers,  engineers,  and 
scientific  men  have  received  their 
elementary  education  in  this  cel- 
ebrated establishment.  Pupils 
are  admitted  from  the  age  of  six- 
teen to  twenty,  and  are  allowed  to 
remain  two,  and  in  some  cases 
three  years.  Notwithstanding 
their  youth,  the  nature  of  their 
studies  and  the  discipline  of  the 
institution  fitted  them  to  act  the 
part  of  leaders  and  officers  among 
the  untrained  bourgeois  of  Paris. 

The  numberless  advantages  of 
Paris  as  a  place  of  professional 
education  have  rendered  it  the 
residence  of  great  numbers  of 
students  of  law  and  medicine. 
Although  destitute  of  the  military 
knowledge  possessed  by  the  stu- 
dents of  the  Polytechnic  School, 
their  general  intelligence,  their 
standing  in  society,  and  their  ear- 
nest devotion  to  constitutional 
principles  made  them  no  mean 
actors  in  the  stirring  scenes  of  the 
Three  Days. 

Obedient  to  the  commands  of 


the  King,  and  taught  by  the  ex- 
perience of  the  last  two  daysy 
Marmont  concentrated  his  forces 
todaj  in  large  masses  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  head-quarters. 
Whatever  might  have  been  his  in- 
tentions if  things  had  proceeded 
favorably,  his  actual  operations 
were  mostly  of  a  defensive  na- 
ture. The  Guards  at  this  time 
exhibited  a  force  of  eleven  bat- 
talions of  infantry  and  thirteen 
squadrons  of  cavalry,  amounting 
to  4300  men.  The  four  regi- 
ments of  the  Line  still  remained 
under  the  nominal  orders  of  the 
Marshal,  and,  notwithstanding 
their  previous  conduct,  were  con- 
sidered by  him  in  the  general  dis- 
position of  his  forces. 

To  render  intelligible  the  inci- 
dents of  the  day,  we  must  explain 
the  relative  situation  of  the  several 
positions  occupied  by  the  troops. 
The  Seine,  it  will  be  remember- 
ed, flows  from  east  to  west  through 
the  heart  of  Paris.  Three  con- 
siderable islands  are  here  formed 
by  the  river,  the  largest  of  which 
is  the  Lutetia  of  the  Romans. 
'  Lutetiam  proficlscitur,'  says  Cae- 
sar, '  id  est  oppidum  Parisiorum 
posiium  in  insula  fluminis  Sequa- 
ni  ;^  and  this  island  is  now  famil- 
iarly termed  La  Cite.  Upon  it 
the  Palais  de  Justice  and  the  Ca- 
thedral of  Notre  Dame  are  situa- 
ted ;  for  it  is  not  in  the  wilds  of 
America  only  that  a  courthouse 
and  a  church  form  the  nucleus  of 
the  future  city.  The  Quai  de 
I'Horloge,  Marche  aux  Fleurs, 
and  Quai  de  la  Cite  compose  the 
northerly  edge  of  the  island,  facing 
the  Quai  de  la  Megisserie,  Quai 
de  Gevres,  Quai  Pelletier,  and 
the  Greve,  the  localities  so  often 


FRANCE. 


349 


referred  to  as  constituting  the  op- 
posite bank  of  the  norlliern  chan- 
nel of  the  Seine.  The  principal 
interior  Boulevards  desciibe  a 
semi-circle  resting  upon  the  river, 
of  which  the  island  of  La  Ciie 
may  be  considered  the  centre, 
and  which  thus  encloses  the 
northern  half  and  the  most  popu- 
lous part  of  Paris.  Surrounding 
the  Boulevards  thus  described  are 
the  northern  Faubourgs,  begin- 
ning with  the  Faubourg  Saint  An- 
toine  in  the  east  and  contiguous 
to  the  Bastille,  and  ending  with 
the  Faubourg  Saint  Honore  and 
the  Champs  Elysees  in  the  west. 
The  southerly  half  of  Paris  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Seine  is 
less  regular  than  the  other,  but 
has  a  general  correspondence  to 
it  in  form  and  appearance. 

At  the  westei  ly  extremity,  then, 
of  the  city,  and  adjacent  to  the 
northern  bank  of  the  river,  are  the 
Louvre  and  the  Chateau  of  the 
Tuileries,  which  although  bearing 
different  names,  are  one  connected 
mass  of  buildings;  and  in  contin- 
uation onward  from  them  are  the 
Gardens  of  the  Tuileries,  the  Place 
Louis  XV.,  and  the  Champs 
Elysees,  extending  by  the  broad 
avenue  of  Neuilly  to  the  gate  or 
barrier  of  that  name.  Tlie  Pal- 
ace of  the  Louvre  forms  a  perfect 
quadrangle,  enclosing  a  public 
court  four  hundred  and  eight  feet 
square,  which  is  entered  by  pass- 
ing under  spacious  vestibules  or 
arcades,  one  on  each  of  the  four 
sides  of  the  Palace.  The  Tuil- 
eries consisted  for  a  long  period 
of  what  is  now  only  the  main 
body  of  the  edifice,  which  compri- 
ses a  range  of  buildings  on  a  single 
line,  extending  on  a  ground  plan 
30^- 


1068  feet  perpendicular  to  the 
Seine.  Of  this  range  or  block  of 
buildings,  the  extremity  next  the 
Seine  is  called  the  Pavilion  de 
Flore,  and  the  Pavilion  Marsan 
forms  the  opposite  extremity. 
It  fronts  on  the  Garden  of  the 
Tuileries,  having  its  reverse,  of 
course,  towards  the  Louvre,  with 
a  large  public  vestibule  or  arcade 
passing  under  it,  so  as  to  consti- 
tute an  avenue  from  the  Garden 
to  the  Louvre.  On  the  side  of 
the  jriver,  a  range  of  buildings 
stretches  from  the  Pavilion  de 
Flore  to  the  Louvre,  thus  uniting 
the  two  Palaces,  and  forming  the 
magnificent  Galerie  du  Musee,  or 
picture  gallery,  1332  feet  in 
length.  Another  range  of  build- 
ings constructed  by  Napoleon,  and 
facing  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  extends 
from  the  Pavilion  Marsan  about 
half  way  towards  the  Louvre,  it 
having  been  his  intention  to  unite 
the  two  edifices  on  this  side  also, 
as  well  as  on  the  side  of  the 
Seine.  The  Cour  du  Palais,  and 
the  Place  du  Carrousel,  on  which 
stands  the  celebrated  arch,  are 
separated  only  by  a  gilded  bal- 
ustrade, and  occupy  the  whole 
space  wiihin  the  two  galleries  or 
wings  of  the  Tuileries.  The 
residue  of  the  space  between  the 
Palaces  is  partly  open  and  partly 
covered  widi  ordinary  buildings. 

Receding  a  little  from  the  riv- 
er and  just  north  of  the  Louvre 
and  the  Tuileries,  is  the  Palais 
Royal  so  called,  the  residence  of 
the  Due  d'Orleans,  separated 
from  the  former  by  a  few  short 
cross  streets,  and  having  the  Rue 
Saint  Honore  between,  a  long 
street  which  under  various  names 
runs  parallel  to  the  Seine  from 


350 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


the  barriere  du  Trone  on  the 
east  to  the  barriere  du  Roule  on 
the  west.  The  Rue  de  Castigli- 
one  crosses  the  Rue  Saint  Honore 
at  right  angles,  making  a  commu- 
nication from  the  Garden  of  the 
Tuileries  to  the  Place  Vendome. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  Seine, 
leaving  the  Place  Louis  XV.  by 
the  Pont  Louis  XVL,  you  come 
successively  to  the  Palais  Bour- 
bon, occupied  in  part  by  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  in  part 
as  the  residence  of  the  Due  de 
Bourbon  Conde,  to  the  Hotel  des 
Invalides  with  its  extensive  es- 
planade and  grounds,  and  to  the 
Ecole  Militaire  fronting  upon  the 
Champ  de  Mars. 

It  is  far  from  our  purpose  to 
give  a  description  of  Paris,  or  of 
any  of  the  different  objects  we 
have  designated,  all  we  intend 
being,  to  make  military  operations 
intelligible  by  pointing  out  the  sit- 
uation of  certain  points  with  re- 
ference to  those  operations.  The 
troops  were  distributed  at  the  va- 
rious positions,  of  which  we  have 
given  an  account,  as  follows.  A 
battalion  of  Guards  occupied  the 
Ecole  Militaire.  The  grounds  of 
the  Invalides  were  left  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  school  for  staff  offi- 
cers. The  Palais  Bourbon  was 
intrusted  to  the  Line,  who  also 
extended  to  the  Place  Louis  XV. 
and  the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries. 
Three  battalions  of  Guards  also 
formed  in  the  Garden.  A  Swiss 
battalion  was  posted  in  the  Place 
du  Carrousel,  another  in  the  inte- 
rior court  of  the  Louvre,  and  a  third 
in  the  colonnade  and  windows 
of  the  Louvre  itself.  Two  battal- 
ions of  Guards  were  distributed  at 
different  posts  along  the  Rue  Saint 


Honore,  some  in  the  houses,  oth- 
ers at  the  Palais  Royal  and  the 
Bank  of  France,  which  is  near  it. 
Two  others  extended  from  the 
Place  Louis  XV.  along  the  Rue 
Royale  to  the  church  of  La  Mad- 
eleine and  the  Boulevard  des  Ca- 
pucines.  The  cavalry  were  chief- 
ly in  the  Champs  Elysees  or 
about  the  Tuileries. 

All  these  arrangements,  we  re- 
peat, were  apparently  defensive  in 
their  object.  Marmont  had,  in 
compliance  with  the  injunctions 
of  the  King,  concentrated  the 
troops  in  masses  all  around  the 
Tuileries ;  and  in  so  doing  he 
might  continue  to  maintain  that 
position  against  the  people.  But 
what  then  ?  The  Nation  was  now 
in  arms ;  and  what  could  a  few 
thousand  guards  accomplish 
against  the  whole  of  France  ^ 
Would  the  Ministers  counsel  the 
King  to  bombard  Paris  ?  If  they 
intended  effectually  to  treat  it  as 
a  besieged  city,  the  question  would 
have  come  to  that ;  and  then  it 
would  have  been  advisable  for  M. 
de  Polignac  to  ascertain  wheth- 
er he  could  find  troops  of  the 
Line  enough  to  invest  Paris  in 
regular  siege,  and  carry  matters 
to  the  extremity  of  destroying  the 
metropolis.  It  is  well  known  that 
no  such  orders  would  have  been 
submitted  to  by  any  of  the  regu- 
lar troops.  What  then,  we  ask 
once  more,  could  Charles  hope  to 
effect  by  means  of  his  masses  ? 
We  profess  that  we  do  not  see 
anything  of  a  more  practicable 
nature  in  the  operations  of  Thurs- 
day than  in  those  of  Wednesday, 
notwithstanding  the  generosity  and 
good  sense  of  the  Carlists,  who 
are  disposed  to  cavil  in  every  way 


FRANCE. 


351 


at  the  proceedings  of  Marmont, 
and  to  throw  on  him  the  blame  of 
a  failure,  which  arose  out  of  the 
intrinsic  rottenness  of  the  cause 
itself. 

Let  even  handed  justice  be 
dealt  out  to  all  parties.  A  blind 
infatuated  King  attempted  to  sup- 
press the  liberties  guarantied  to 
the  nation  by  the  fundamental  law 
of  the  land.  Weak  and  narrow 
minded  counsellors  became  the 
dishonorable  agents  of  his  usurpa- 
tion and  perjury.  They  made  no 
fitting  preparations,  in  fact  no 
preparations  at  all  to  compel 
obedience  to  the  unlawful  decrees 
of  their  master.  When  the  day 
of  trial  came,  and  a  revolution  had 
already  commenced,  they  called 
upon  a  Marshal  of  France  to 
command  the  forces  which  garri- 
soned the  capital,  in  the  expecta- 
tion that  he  would  achieve  an  easy 
victory  over  a  yielding  mob.  He 
made  such  a  disposition  of  his 
troops  as  the  views  of  the  time 
recommended  to  him,  and  he  fail- 
ed, because  his  forces  were  inad- 
equate to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose, and  because  the  despised 
mob  proved  to  be  a  brave  and 
warlike  host.  Whether  the  plans 
of  Marmont  were  judicious  or  not 
is  wholly  immaterial.  Whatever 
they  had  been,  and  however  for- 
tune might  have  favored  their  ex- 
ecution, their  success  would  but 
have  caused  greater  effusion  of 
blood  :  for  all  France,  including 
the  army  itself  with  the  exception 
of  the  Guards,  was  against  the 
King,  and  sooner  or  later  he  must 
have  yielded  to  numbers,  notwith- 
standing any  temporary  advan- 
tage he  might  have  enjoyed  in  his 
attack  on  the  Parisians.  The 


King  and  his  Ministers  should 
therefore  bear  the  blame  of  their 
folly  and  insanity  in  the  entire 
transaction,  and  in  each  and  all  of 
its  parts,  instead  of  meanly  seek- 
ing to  throw  the  responsibility  for 
failure  upon  Marshal  Marmont. 
His  real  error,  in  our  judgment, 
was  of  a  political,  not  a  military- 
nature  'y  it  consisted  in  his  under- 
taking the  task  of  dragooning 
the  citizens  into  submission,  not  in 
his  failing  to  accomplish  it. 

But  to  return  to  our  narrative^ 
these  arrangements  of  the  troops 
having  been  made,  the  People 
themselves  became  the  assailants? 
in  the  movements  of  this  day. 
The  armed  citizens  surrounded 
the  various  points  of  Marmont's 
line,  and  maintained  an  incessant 
discharge  of  musketry  upon  it 
from  every  quarter.  Their  exer- 
tions were  particularly  directed  to 
the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries,  the 
centre  of  the  royalist  position^ 
which  they  endeavored  to  carry 
by  repeated  assaults,  conducted 
with  the  bravery  and  pertinacity 
of  veteran  soldiers.  Sheltering 
themselves  under  the  parapet 
walls  along  the  southern  bank  ^ 
of  the  river,  and  standing  even 
behind  the  pillars  of  the  Institute^ 
which  is  on  that  side  of  the  Seine 
and  opposite  to  the  Louvre,  they 
fired  with  comparative  impunity 
upon  the  troops  stationed  in  the 
latter  edifice.  The  citizens  fought  ^ 
with  equal  resolution,  but  at  great 
disadvantage,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Louvre  toward  the  Palais 
Royal,  particularly  from  the 
square  of  the  Church  of  Saint 
Germain  I'Auxerrois. 

Early  in  the  day  the  officer  of 
the  Line  who  commanded  at  the 


352 


ANNUAL    REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Palais  Bourbon,  entered  into  ne- 
gotiation with  the  citizens,  which 
resulted  in  his  peaceably  with- 
drawing his  troops  into  the  gar- 
den of  the  Due  de  Bourbon,  leav- 
ing the  insurgents  in  possession  of 
a  post,  which  commanded  the 
Place  Louis  XV,  They  retained 
it  for  some  time,  greatly  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  Guards,  on 
whom  they  could  now  fire  from 
the  shelter  of  the  columns  in  front 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and 
from  other  points  of  the  edifice. 
The  troops  of  the  Line  stationed 
in  the  Place  Louis  XV.  soon 
retreated  to  the  alleys  of  the 
Champs  Elysees,  without  return- 
ing the  fire,  and  a  body  of  Guards 
was  compelled  to  march  across 
the  Pont  Louis  XVL  and  dis- 
lodge the  citizens  from  the  Palais 
Bourbon.  When  they  had  done 
this,  they  found  the  regiment  of 
the  Line  in  the  garden  of  the  Pal- 
ace, keeping  entirely  aloof  from 
the  combat. 

At  about  the  same  time 
two  regiments  of  the  Line,  sta- 
tioned in  the  Place  Vendome, 
shouldered  theli-  muskets  with  the 
buts  in  the  air,  and  abandoned 
the  Marshal  to  his  fate.  When 
Marmont  received  intelligence  of 
this  additional  defection,  he  be- 
came satisfied  that  a  continuance 
of  hostilities  was  perfectly  idle, 
now  that  his  two  wings,  which 
composed  half  his  force,  had  de- 
serted him,  leaving  his  centre  to 
sustain  the  war  alone  ;  and  he 
proposed  an  armistice,  in  the 
hope  that  an  accommodation 
might  yet  be  made  with  the  King 
that  should  put  an  end  to  the  in- 
surrection. M.  de  Semonville,  a 
peer  of  great  authority  and  influ- 


ence, who  held  the  office  of  grand 
referendary  of  the  Chamber  of 
Peers,  —  an  office  created  for 
managing  the  pecuniary  and  busi- 
ness affairs  of  the  Chamber,  — 
repaired  to  the  Tuileries  this 
morning,  to  insist  in  the  name 
and  behalf  of  the  Peers,  that  con- 
ditions of  accommodation  should 
be  procured  from  the  King.  The 
wishes  of  Marmont,  as  we  have 
repeatedly  observed,  were  deci- 
dedly adverse  to  the  course  he 
had  been  required  to  pursue,  and 
no  man  was  more  anxious  than 
he  to  bring  about  peace.  M.  de 
Semonville  maintained  the  same 
ground,  which  M.  Lafitte  had 
taken  in  his  interview  with  Mar- 
mont the  day  before.  But  this 
energetic  nobleman  went  further 
than  to  demand  of  the  Ministers 
that  they  should  resign.  He  pro- 
posed that  they  should  be  arrested 
on  the  spot  if  they  refused  to  re- 
sign ;  and  his  representations  had 
so  much  effect,  that  the  Ministers 
repaired  to  Saint  Cloud  at  eleven 
o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
senting to  the  King  their  resigna- 
tions. They  left  the  Tuileries 
just  before  the  defection  of  the 
troops  of  the  Line  ;  and  Marmont 
had  so  much  confidence  in  their 
success,  that  he  distributed  a  pa- 
cific proclamation,  conjuring  the 
citizens  to  lay  down  their  arms  in 
the  prospect  of  immediately  ob- 
taining all  they  demanded.  But 
an  unexpected  and  most  impor- 
tant advantage  was  just  then  ob- 
tained by  the  citizens,  which  ac- 
complished a  total  change  in 
the  whole  aspect  of  affairs,  and 
decided  the  question  forever 
against  the  reigning  dynasty. 
Marshal  Marmont,  it  will  be 


FRANCE.  355 

recollected,  had  posted  three  bat-  mediately  perceived  that  the  firing 
talions  of  Swiss  Guards  at  the  from  the  Louvre  had  ceased,  and 
Louvre,  one  in  the  colonnade  and  pressed  their  attack  with  renewed 
galleries,  another  in  the  inner  zeal.  Finding  still  that  they  en- 
court,  and  another  in  the  Place  countered  no  opposition,  they  at 
du  Carrousel,  that  is  under  the  length  crowded  in  at  the  lower 
windows  of  the  Galerie  du  Musee.  windows,  and  look  possession  of 
The  position  of  the  two  Palaces,  the  whole  interior  of  the  edifice, 
thus  occupied,  hasbeen  considered  first  occupying  the  windows  which 
impregnable  by  the  best  military  overlooked  the  inner  court,  and 
judges,  and  was  so  pronounced  then  the  Galerie  du  Musee,  which 
on  this  very  day  by  competent  commanded  a  long  space  beneath 
persons,  who  examined  it  without  as  far  along  as  the  arch  of  the 
having  any  interest  in  the  question  Carrousel  and  the  court  of  the 
to  bias  their  opinions.  When  the  Tuilerics.  Suddenly  the  Swiss 
regiments  of  the  Line  deserted  in  the  court  of  the  Louvre  found 
their  stations  in  the  Place  Ven-  themselves  exposed  to  a  deadly 
dome,  a  post  so  important  on  ac-  fire  from  the  windows  of  the  Pal- 
count  of  the  access  it  gave  to  the  ace  above  them,  and  struck  with 
Tuileries,  the  Marshal  hastily  or-  a  sudden  panic  they  fled  in  dis- 
dered  one  of  the  battalions  of  order  into  the  Place  du  Carrousel. 
Swiss  from  the  Louvre  to  supply  At  the  same  time  the  Parisians 
the  place  of  the  revolted  troops,  opened  their  fire  from  the  Galerie 
The  Louvre  was  already  garri-  du  Musee.  Filled  with  conster- 
soned  rather  insufficiently,  con-  nation  at  the  continuance  of  this 
sidering  how  hotly  it  was  attacked  unexpected  fire  from  all  the  win- 
by  the  citizens ;  and  the  battalion  dows  of  the  Louvre,  the  whole 
which  occupied  the  building  hself  body  of  Swiss  rushed  precipi- 
was  absolutely  indispensable  to  tately  into  the  railed  court  of  the 
the  defence  of  the  position.  It  Tuileries  among  the  lancers  drawn 
happened,  unfortunately  for  Mar-  up  there,  followed  close  by  the 
mont,  that  the  Swiss  in  the  Louvre  fire  of  the  Parisians.  All  was 
were  commanded  by  the  Comte  now  confusion.  The  Swiss  throng- 
de  Salis,  the  officer  who  lost  his  ed  towards  the  arched  vestibule 
way  the  day  before  in  going  to  under  the  Tuileries,  which  leads 
the  succor  of  the  troops  in  the  from  the  Place  du  Carrousel  into 
Marche  des  Innocens,  and  who  the  Gardens,  overturning  every- 
seems  not  to  have  possessed  a  thing  before  them,  and  converting 
very  clear  understanding.  By  an  what  at  first  was  only  a  retreat 
extraordinary  error  in  judgment  into  a  wild  disorderly  rout.  But 
or  singular  mistake  of  his  orders,  here,  at  this  very  vestibule,  were 
this  officer,  instead  of  sending  the  head-quarters  of  the  army, 
either  of  the  two  battalions  in  the  and  here  was  the  Marshal  himself, 
courts,  marched  off  the  very  Marmont  was  carried  along,  sur- 
corps,  which  alone  defended  the  prised  and  astounded  by  the  pre- 
Palace  itself.  cipitate  retreat  of  his  own  troops, 

The  Parisians,  of  course,  im-  and  hastily  made  his  way  into 


354  ANNUAL  REGflSTER,  1829—30. 


the  Garden,  where  the  flying  bat- 
talions again  formed.  But  the 
day  was  now  irretrievably  lost. 
Seeing  the  troops  waver,  the  citi- 
zens pressed  on  from  this  side, 
and  Marmont  was  obliged  to  or- 
der his  troops  to  evacuate  the 
city,  and  retreat  with  all  possible 
despatch  upon  Saint  Cloud. 

Marmont  was  driven  so  sud- 
denly from  the  Tuileries  that  he 
had  no  time  to  remove  the  military 
chest,  or  to  take  any  measures  to 
preserve  his  outposts  from  de- 
struction. The  detached  parties 
of  Guards  in  the  Rue  Saint  Ho- 
nore,  in  the  barrack  of  the  Rue 
de  Babylone,  and  elsewhere,  who 
knew  nothing  of  the  events  at  the 
Tuileries,  were  overpowered,  and 
mostly  killed  by  the  triumphant 
citizens,  who  thus  gained  absolute 
possession  of  all  Paris.  The  citi- 
zens rushed  into  the  Tuileries,  as 
promptly  as  they  had  entered  the 
Louvre,  and  the  princely  halls  of 
the  Chateau,  its  rich  dormitories, 
and  the  secret  cabinets  of  royalty 
itself,  were  speedily  filled  with 
the  profane  crowds  of  the  populace 
of  Paris,  and  the  People  were 
now  in  reality  the  Sovereigns  of 
France,  Charles  had  ere  this 
recalled  the  illegal  Ordinances, 
and  accepted  the  resignation  of 
his  Ministers  ;  but  all  too  late  ;  for 
while  he  was  deliberating  on  the 
subject  the  reign  of  the  Bourbons 
had  ended,  and  the  sceptre  had 
passed  away  from  their  blinds. 
A  Revolution,  as  glorious  in  its 
consequences  as  it  was  in  its 
achievement,  had  been  accom- 
plished in  the  short  space  of  three 
days,  and  France  was  free. 

We  should  greatly  overstep  the 
reasonable  limits  assigned  to  our 


yearly  chronicle  of  events,  if  we 
attempted  to  relate  the  individual 
traits  of  patriotism  and  heroism, 
which  ennobled  the  Revolution  of 
the  Three  Days.  The  newspa- 
pers and  popular  publications  of 
the  day  have  abounded  with  an- 
ecdotes of  the  self  devotion  of 
the  boyish  students,  the  common 
workmen,  nay  the  women  of  Pa- 
ris, which  would  have  done  honor 
to  the  spirit  of  old  Romans. 
But  the  course  of  our  narrative 
confines  us  to  the  leading  incidents 
and  the  general  results  of  the  con- 
test. The  bravery  of  the  citizens 
has  been  so  frequently  signaHzed 
in  the  preceding  pages,  that  we 
need  not  dwell  upon  it  here.  But 
we  should  do  the  Parisians  extreme 
injustice  not  to  speak  of  the  spirit 
of  good  order,  of  obedience  to 
the  laws,  of  deference  to  the 
rights  of  person  and  property,  of 
courage  tempered  with  mercy, 
which  distinguished  their  conduct 
throughout  these  trying  scenes. 
The  Government  did  everything 
in  its  power  to  introduce  anarchy 
and  confusion.  It  wantonly  vio- 
lated the  Charter.  It  declared 
Paris  in  a  state  of  siege,  thus  si- 
lencing the  ordinary  courts  of 
justice,  and  substituting  the  arbi- 
trary will  of  a  soldier  in  the  place 
of  the  regular  movement  of  the 
laws.  But  the  People  were  more 
virtuous  than  the  King.  In  the 
midst  of  the  heats  and  violence  of 
civil  war,  the  citizens  respected 
private  property  with  as  much 
sedulous  care  as  if  the  laws  had 
possessed  their  accustomed  vigor. 
No  private  resentments  were 
prosecuted,  no  booty  was  unjustly 
acquired,  during  a  period,  when 
unbridled    license   would  have 


FRANCE. 


355 


seemed  to  be  the  order  of  the 
day.  The  citizens  took  posses- 
sion of  arms  wherever  they  could 
find  any  ;  but  neither  the  treas- 
ure of  the  Bank  nor  the  riches  of 
the  Tuileries  could  tempt  them  to 
lose  sight  of  the  high  and  noble 
purpose,  which  animated  them  in 
the  great  controversy,  now  put  to 
the  issue  of  war.  The  meanest 
individual  seemed  to  feel  that  he 
was  fighting  ihe  battles  of  the 
Charter,  and  the  feeling  exalted 
him  above  the  scope  of  every 
lowly  passion,  rendering  him  as 
high  minded  in  principle  as  he 
was  courageous  in  conduct. 

On  the  other  hand,  however, 
it  is  necessary  that  we  should 
carefully  exercise  our  judgment, 
in  considering  the  events  of  this 
period,  to  avoid  being  misled  into 
false  views.  We  have  no  dispo- 
sition to  detract  from  the  merits, 
or  to  disparage  the  sufferings  and 
sacrifices,  of  the  brave  Parisians 
during  the  ever  memorable  Three 
Days.  Our  hearty  sympathy 
with  their  cause  is  sufficiently 
apparent  in  every  page.  Nor 
could  we  desire  that  so  noble  a 
triumph  as  they  achieved,  so 
grand  a  Revolution  as  they  ac- 
complished, should  have  been 
achieved  or  accomplished  at 
greater  loss  of  human  life  than 
actually  occurred.  Still  we  must 
say  that  the  exaggeration  and 
rhodomontade  of  the  popular  ac- 
counts of  the  engagements  of  the 
Three  Days  pass  all  bounds. 
The  whole  effective  force  of 
Marmont,  as  we  have  seen,  never 
exceeded  six  thousand  men  ;  and 
on  Wednesday  the  28th,  when 
the  real  battle  of  the  Revolution 
was  fought,  this  force  was  cut  up 


into  detached  columns,  which  en- 
gaged separately  with  large  mass- 
es of  citizens.  The  conflicts  in 
the  Place  de  THotel  de  Ville 
were  the  most  desperate  and  san- 
guinary of  the  whole  day.  And 
yet  after  all  there  were  but  a 
thousand  men  here  of  the  royalist 
troops.  But  the  terms  of  grand- 
iloquence applied  to  the  dis- 
charges of  so  small  a  force  would 
shame  a  bulletin  from  the  field  of 
Borodino,  or  any  other  scene  of 
terrible  carnage,  where  death  has 
gathered  up  his  victims  by  hun- 
dreds not  by  units.  We  suppose 
the  hyperbohcal  extravagance  in 
question  is  to  be  pardoned  to 
mere  civilians,  who  were  unused 
to  scenes  of  blood,  and  who  had 
really  displayed  as  true  courage 
and  gained  as  imperishable  glory, 
as  if  the  bloodshed  of  the  Three 
Days  had  been  answerable  to  the 
horrors  of  a  pitched  batde  be- 
tween contending  empires.  But 
while  we  pardon,  we  cannot  but 
condemn  it  as  an  unworthy  trait 
in  itself,  and  as  tending  greatly  to 
impair  the  credibility  of  the  early 
accounts  of  the  Revolution. 
These  accounts  are  extremely  in- 
accurate in  many  respects,  as  they 
give  no  complete  idea  of  the 
military  events  of  the  Three  Days, 
even  where  they  are  substantially 
true,  and  as  they  state  many  im- 
portant things  as  fact  which  never 
took  place.  The  repeated  cap- 
ture and  recapture  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  the  storming  of  the  Lou- 
vre and  of  the  Tuileries,  — these 
are  imaginary  incidents,  which  ap- 
pear in  bold  rehef  in  newspaper 
articles  of  the  time  and  in  other 
equally  authentic  sources  of  in- 
formation.   Some  of  the  sketches 


356 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


published  would  represent  the 
loss  of  the  troops  as  being  greater 
than  the  whole  number  of  troops 
engaged  in  the  contest.  But  it 
is  not  so.  In  fact  it  has  been 
pretty  satisfactorily  ascertained 
that  the  loss  on  both  sides  did 
^ot  exceed  three  thousand  men 
in  killed  and  wounded.  Deduct- 


ing, however,  whatever  is  ex- 
aggerated in  the  popular  state- 
ments concerning  the  Revolu- 
tion, enough  of  glory  remains 
to  the  Parisian  population,  and 
enough  of  consequence  in  the 
victory  achieved,  to  render  it  one 
of  the  most  interesting  events  in 
modern  history. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 


FRANCE,  CONTINUED. 


Provisional  Government  of  Thursday.  — La  Fayette.  —  Proposal 
<f  the  King.  —  The  Due  d'' Orleans  made  Lieutenant  General.  — 
State  of  Paris.  —  Expulsion  of  the  Bourbons.  Remarks. 


We  gave  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  a  sufficiently  minute  his- 
tory of  the  military  events  of  the 
Three  Days,  which  in  so  brief  a 
period  completely  destroyed  the 
power  of  Charles  Tenth.  But  in 
the  emergency  of  a  popular  Revo- 
lution, it  is  often  easier  to  destroy 
than  to  renew,  easier  to  overthrow 
existing  institutions  than  to  estab- 
lish new  ones  in  their  place. 
Fortunately  on  the  present  occa- 
sion the  People,  who  for  the  time 
being  had  resumed  their  natural 
authority,  were  temperate  and  ju- 
dicious in  their  views,  and  after 
they  had  fought  for  and  won  their 
liberty,  returned  peaceably  to 
their  ordinary  pursuits,  leaving  to 
the  chosen  and  respected  public 
men  of  the  Nation  to  reorganize 
the  forms  of  Government.  The 
Moniteur,  that  expressive  chron- 
icle of  political  changes,  did  not 
appear  on  the  29th,  Being  the 
organ  of  the  rulers  de  facto,  who 
may  happen  to  have  the  control 
of  affairs,  how  could  it  speak  on 
that  day  when  there  were  no  rul- 
orsi*  It  was  an  interregnum  alike 
31 


of  the  Government  and  of  the 
Moniteur.  But  on  Friday  it  re- 
appeared under  the  dates  of  July 
29th  and  30th,  with  the  following 
official  article  : 

'  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT. 

*  The  Deputies  present  at  Par^ 
is  have  found  it  necessary  to  as^ 
semble  to  remedy  the  serious 
dangers,  which  threatened  the 
security  of  persons  and  property, 
A  Commission  has  been  appointed 
to  watch  over  the  interests  of  all, 
in  the  entire  absence  of  a  regular 
organization. 

'  Messrs  Audry  de  Puyraveau, 
Comte  Gerard.  Jacques  Lafitte, 
Comtede  Lobau,  Mauguin,  Odier, 
Casimir  Perrier,  and  de  Schonen, 
compose  the  Commission. 

'  General  La  Fayette  is  Com^ 
mander  in  Chief  of  the  National 
Guard. 

'  The  National  Guard  are  mas- 
ters of  Paris  at  all  points.' 

These  few  sentences  proclaim- 
ed to  France  and  to  Europe,  the 
triumph  of  the  Charter  and  the 
downfal  of  its  assailants. 


358 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


The  individuals  composing  the 
Commission  were  universally 
known  as  the  uncompromising 
advocates  of  the  popular  cause  on 
occasions  without  number,  and 
their  names  were  a  sufficient 
guarantee  to  the  People  at  large 
of  the  character  of  the  measures 
they  would  pursue,  even  had  not 
La  Fayette  been  announced  as 
commander  of  the  National 
Guards. 

In  fact,  to  the  population  of 
Paris  these  appointments  were 
not  a  novelty.  No  longer  re- 
strained by  considerations  of  del- 
icacy, or  any  fear  of  compromis- 
ing themselves,  the  Deputies  had 
assembled  at  the  house  of  M.  La- 
fitte  on  Thursday,  and  made 
various  arrangements  of  great  im- 
portance. In  placing  La  Fay- 
ette at  the  head  of  the  National 
Guard,  they  had  appealed  to  the 
old  sensibilities  and  historical  re- 
collections of  the  People,  in  the 
same  way  the  popular  leaders  of 
Wednesday  had  done  in  raising 
the  tricolored  flag.  La  Fayette 
and  the  tricolor  were  equally, 
under  the  Bourbons,  proscribed 
memorials  of  the  Revolution.  — 
Immediately  on  receiving  his 
appointment,  he  announced  his 
acceptance  in  a  proclamation,  in- 
viting the  Mayor  and  Municipal 
Committees  of  each  arrondisse- 
ment  of  the  city  to  send  officers  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  receive  his 
orders.  In  this  paper  the  Com- 
mission, of  which  we  have  spoken, 
are  styled  the  Constitutional  Mu- 
nicipal Committee  of  the  city  of 
Paris.  It  was  soon  after  announc- 
ed that  the  Comte  Alexander  de 
Laborde  was  appointed  provision- 
al Prefect  of  the  Seine,  and  Baron 


Louis  Minister  of  Finance.  Va- 
rious proclamations  were  issued 
on  that  day  by  General  La  Fay- 
ette, by  General  Dubourg,  whom 
the  citizens  themselves  had  at 
first  installed  in  temporary  com- 
mand and  who  subsequently  act- 
ed under  La  Fayette,  and  by  the 
Deputies.  The  latter,  in  the 
midst  of  an  ardent  appeal  to  the 
citizens  to  arm,  apprises  them  of 
the  appointment  of  La  Fayette  to 
the  command  of  the  National 
Guard,  and  also  announces  the 
establishment  of  a  Provisional 
Government.  '  Three  most  hon- 
orable citizens,'  say  they,  '  have 
undertaken  its  important  func- 
tions :  These  are  Messrs  La 
Fayette,  Choiseul,  and  Gerard.' 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  Due 
de  Choiseul  ever  acted  under  this 
authority ;  but  his  associates  en- 
tered immediately  upon  the  zeal- 
ous discharge  of  the  duties  as- 
signed to  them.  The  Hotel  de 
Ville  became  the  seat  of  public 
affiiirs  once  more,  as  it  had  been 
in  former  times  of  revolution. 
In  fact,  in  everything  the  days  of 
popular  rule  seemed  to  be  restor- 
ed. But  it  was  by  the  lavish  use 
of  the  name,  influence,  and  exer- 
tions of  La  Fayette  that  order 
was  in  reality  maintained.  He 
was  replaced  in  the  command  of 
the  citizen  soldiery  which  he  had 
led  in  1789.  His  name  was 
invoked  by  the  Deputies  in  their 
proclamation  as  the  talisman  of 
public  safety.  And  he  again  was 
put  forward  as  first  in  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  which  the 
exigencies  of  the  time  called  into 
being.  Never  was  more  honora- 
ble tribute  paid  to  the  popularity, 
integrity,  patriotism,  and  self-de- 


FRANCE. 


359 


volion  of  any  man,  in  ancient  or 
modern  times,  than  in  the  sponta- 
neous resort  of  the  casual  deposi- 
taries of  power  to  La  Fayette,  as 
the  only  individual  in  France, 
whose  personal  influence  could 
supply  the  total  absence  of  an 
established  or  admitted  govern- 
ment derived  from  the  laws.  In 
the  unpretending  form  of  Com- 
mander of  the  National  Guard,  he 
in  fact  exercised  the  functions, 
which,  in  ancient  Rome  and  in 
the  Republics  of  South  America, 
would  have  belonged  to  the  name 
and  authority  of  Dictator. 

When  Polignac  and  his  col- 
leagues arrived  at  Saint  Cloud, 
and  laid  down  that  power,  which 
they  had  used  so  disastriously  for 
their  King,  they  could  persuade 
the  infatuated  prince  to  listen  to 
arguments  of  accommodation  on- 
ly by  awakening  his  apprehen- 
sions for  the  safety  of  the  Duch- 
esse  d'Angouleme,  who  was  then 
on  her  return  from  a  journey,  and 
knew  nothing  of  what  had  trans- 
pired. His  fears  that  a  single 
member  of  his  family  might  suf- 
fer, outweighed,  in  his  selfish 
mind,  all  consideration  of  the 
lives  of  his  subjects  and  the  mis- 
eries of  a  protracted  civil  war ; 
and  to  these  fears,  not  to  any  prin- 
ciple of  public  good,  he  yield- 
ed himself  up,  in  consenting  to  re- 
cal  the  fatal  Ordinances  and  ap- 
point a  liberal  Cabinet.  The 
Due  de  Mortemart,  who  was  in 
service  at  Saint  Cloud  as  Captain 
of  the  Guards,  was  made  Prime 
Minister,  and  empowered  to  se- 
lect his  colleagues.  He  began 
by  naming  Comte  Gerard  Minis- 
ter of  War,  and  M.  Casimir 
Perrier  Minister  of  Finance  ;  and 


these  nominations  appear  in  the 
Bulletin  des  Lois,  although  they 
never  found  their  way  into  the 
Moniieur.  A  deputation  from 
the  King  repaired  to  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  towards  evening  to  pro- 
pose an  accommodation,  but  dis- 
covered that  it  was  too  late,  and 
that  there  was  no  longer  any  hope 
for  Charles  or  his  dynasty  ;  and 
with  these  consolatory  tidings  they 
returned  to  Saint  Cloud. 

Among  those  who  had  the  con- 
trol of  public  affairs  at  this  time,  the 
general  sentiment  already  pointed 
towards  one  individual,  who  alone 
could  give  consistency  to  the 
Revolution,  by  embracing  the 
popular  cause  as  his  own.  The 
Due  d'Orleans  united  in  his  per- 
son a  multitude  of  considerations, 
all  marking  him  out  as  the  person- 
age whom  France  now  needed 
at  the  head  of  her  Government  to 
give  consolidation  and  respecta- 
bility to  the  new  order  of  things, 
and  assure  to  it  the  confidence  of 
Europe.  It  was  a  consummation 
to  which,  as  we  have  before  ex- 
plained, all  eyes  had  long  been 
looking,  as  a  possible  if  not  a 
probable  event.  Perhaps  in  this 
case,  as  in  many  other  great 
changes  which  history  records, 
the  anticipation  of  this  result  had 
a  decided  influence  in  leading  to 
its  accomplishment.  It  is  true 
that  many  of  the  victorious  party 
desired  pure  republican  forms,  in 
place  of  a  monarchy  of  whatso- 
ever degree  of  liberality.  Others 
there  were,  who  still  proudly  cher- 
ished the  name  of  Napoleon,  and 
urged  that  the  dynasty  of  victory 
and  the  Revolution  should  be  re- 
stored to  power  in  the  person  of 
the  Duke  of  Reichstadt.  But 


360 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  great  current  of  opinion,  — 
and  in  such  a  crisis  opinion  is 
everything,  —  ran  in  favor  of  the 
family  of  Orleans. 

As  the  w^ealthiest  subject  of 
France,  the  Due  d'Orleans  pos- 
sessed that  hold  on  the  public 
regard,  vi^hich  great  riches,  wor- 
thily and  liberally  employed,  are 
calculated  to  impart.  His  rank 
placed  him  next  to  the  reigning 
family,  and  of  course  drew  atten- 
tion to  him,  v\^henever  the  subject 
of  a  substitute  for  the  elder 
branch  of  the  Bourbons  came  to 
be  discussed.  The  Due  d'Or- 
leans, it  will  be  remembered,  was 
lineally  descended  from  Philippe, 
only  brother  of  Louis  XIV.  from 
whom  Charles  X.  derived  his  de- 
scent, the  common  ancestor  of 
the  two  families  being  Louis  XIII. 
son  of  Henry  Quartre,  the  splen- 
dor of  whose  qualities  had  per- 
petuated his  memory  in  the  hearts 
of  the  French,  in  spite  of  all  the 
odium  attached  to  the  misrule  of 
his  posterity.  At  the  same  time, 
as  the  Due  d'Orleans  had  no 
claims  to  the  succession,  so  long 
as  the  Dauphin,  or  his  nephew, 
the  Due  de  Bordeaux,  or  any  le- 
gitimate posterity  of  theirs,  sur- 
vived, the  elevation  of  the  former 
would  be  a  revolutionary  act,  a 
violation  o(  the  jus  divinum  prin- 
ciple, a  departure  from  the  line  of 
hereditary  succession  ;  and  there- 
fore the  Due  d'Orleans  would 
owe  his  crown  to  the  choice  and 
free  will  of  the  French  Nation, 
just  as  much  as  if  he  were  a  mere 
soldier  of  fortune  elevated  by  his 
bare  personal  merits  from  the 
subaltern  duties  of  the  camp,  and 
the  indiscriminate  ranks  of  the 
People.     If  he   ascended  the 


throne,  it  must  therefore  be  hj 
compact,  and  on  such  conditions 
as  the  public  voice  should  see  fit 
to  impose. 

And  whatever  recommendation 
the  Due  d'Orleans  gained  by  his 
proximity  to  the  royal  family,  he 
derived  a  still  greater  one  from  his 
immediate  parentage,  his  educa- 
tion, his  ovm  personal  character^ 
and  the  qualities  of  his  family. 
The  son  of  the  Montagnard 
Philippe  Egalite,  who  contribu- 
ted more  than  any  other  single 
individual  to  heave  Louis  XVL 
from  his  throne,  inherited  a  revo- 
lutionary taint  in  his  blood,  from 
which  no  elements  of  royal  rela- 
tionship in  its  composition  could 
purify  it, — and  was  thus  driven 
from  the  affections  of  the  restor- 
ed royal  family  into  unavoidable 
sympathy  with  the  Nation.  At 
an  early  age,  the  then  Due  de 
Chartres,  with  his  two  younger 
brothers,  was  intrusted  to  the  tui- 
tion of  Madame  de  Genlis,  wha 
conducted  his  education  entirely 
upon  the  plan  of  Rousseau's 
Emilius,  thus  giving  a  hardihood 
to  his  body  and  a  masculine  free- 
dom to  his  mind,  which  seldom 
fall  to  the  lot  of  modern  princes. 
Having  completed  his  education, 
he  joined  the  famous  Jacobin 
Club  in  1791,  and  during  the 
same  year  entered  into  active  ser- 
vice as  colonel  of  a  regiment  in 
the  army  of  the  North,  in  that 
age  of  hard  fighting  and  rapid 
promotions  the  Due  de  Chartres 
did  not  languish  for  the  want  of 
employment  or  honors.  Through 
a  quick  succession  of  engage- 
ments in  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1792  under  Biron  and  Luck- 
ner  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 


FRANCE. 


361 


tenant  general,  and  in  September  death  of  his  father;  his  two  broth- 
commanded  the  second  line  of  ers,  the  Due  de  Montpensier  and 
Kellerman's  army  at  the  battle  of  the  Comte  de  Beaujolais,  having 
Valmy.  Soon  afterwards  he  continued  to  be  held  imprisoned 
joined  Dumouriez,  and  participa-  in  France.  But  in  1796  the 
ted  in  the  brilliant  though  brief  Directory  offered  to  liberate  the 
career  of  that  general,  command-  two  brothers  on  condition  they 
ing  his  centre  in  the  great  battle  should  all  retire  to  America.  — 
of  Jemappes,  and  being  equally  The  Due  d'Orleans  gladly  ac- 
distinguished  to  the  close  of  the  cepted  this  condition,  and  imme- 
campaign.  diately  embarked  for  the  United 
The  family  of  Orleans  becom-  States,  where  he  arrived  in  1796, 
ing  subject  to  the  proscription  of  and  was  soon  joined  by  his  broth- 
the  National  Convention,  on  ac-  ers.  They  remained  in  Ameri- 
count  of  the  suspicions  awakened  ca  several  years,  examining  our 
by  their  family  connexions,  the  country,  studying  its  institutions, 
Due  de  Chartres  fled  into  banish-  and  acquiring  the  esteem  of  our 
ment,  and  unfolded  a  still  brighter  most  distinguished  citizens.  In 
page  in  his  character  to  the  eyes  1800  they  went  to  England,  and 
of  the  world.  Refusing  the  resided  at  Twickenham  in  honor- 
tempting  offers  of  military  rank  able  poverty,  nobly  refusing  to  live 
made  him  by  Austria,  because  he  the  dependent  pensioners  of  a 
would  not  bear  arms  against  his  foreign  Government  at  war  with 
country,  he  nobly  disciplined  his  France,  or  to  participate  in  the 
spirit  to  a  life  of  humble  obscuri-  petty  intrigues  of  the  little  court 
ty,  and  submitted  manfully  to  the  of  Hartwell.  In  1807  the  Due 
necessity  of  employing  a  part  of  de  Montpensier  died  of  consump- 
his  time  in  the  duties  of  a  village  tion,*  and  the  Comte  de  Beau- 
schoolmaster  in  the  Grisons. —  jolais  being  threatened  with  the 
The  fall  of  Robespierre  some-  same  disease,  he  and  his  brother 
what  bettered  his  condition,  by  repaired  to  the  Mediterranean, 
enabling  him  to  enter  into  corres-  At  Malta,  soon  after  landing,  the 
pondence  with  his  friends,  and  he  Comte  de  Beaujolais  died  ;  and 
then  passed  several  years  in  trav-  from  this  period  until  the  Resto- 
elling  about  Europe,  chiefly  on  ration  the  Due  d'Orleans  resided 
foot.  During  his  wanderings  in  chiefly  in  Sicily,  where  he  marnt  d 
the  North  of  Europe,  he  was  re-  a  daughter  of  the  House  of  Naples, 
cognised,  and  again  received  the  Previous  to  the  Hundred  Days, 
offer  of  military  command,  and  he  held  a  high  command  in  the 
again  refused  to  bear  arms  against  army,  under  Louis  XVIII.  ;  but 
his  country.  Meanwhile  he  had  since  the  second  Restoration  he 
become  Due  d'Orleans  by  the  had  been  living  altogether  in  re- 

*  The  Due  de  Montpensier  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  Henry  the 
Seventh's  Chapel.  At  the  exhibition  of  Somerset  House  in  1830,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  objects  of  sculpture  was  a  monumental  statue  in  marble  of  the  Due  de 
Montpensier,  executed  by  Westmacott,  (No.  1170,)  a  memorial  of  the  continued 
regard  of  his  surviving  brother. 

31* 


4 


362  ANNUAL  REGIS 

tirement,  improving  his  estates 
and  educating  his  family.  How- 
far  this  seclusion  was  forced  upon 
him  by  the  jealousies  of  the  reign- 
ing family  does  not  distinctly  ap- 
pear ;  but  that  it  was  owing  to  this, 
in  part  at  least,  is  evident  from 
his  not  having  acted  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Peers.  There  are  two 
articles  in  the  Charter  touching 
this  point,  one  of  which  is  said  to 
have  been  inserted  by  Louis 
XVIII.  with  special  reference  to 
the  Due  d'Orleans  and  his  fami- 
ly. One  of  these  (Art.  30,)  pro- 
vides that  '  The  members  of  the 
royal  family  and  the  princes  of 
the  blood  are  Peers  by  right 
of  their  birth the  other, 
(Art.  31)  that  'The  princes  can- 
not take  their  seats  in  the  Cham- 
ber but  by  order  of  the  King, 
expressed  for  each  session  by  a 
message,  under  pain  of  the  nulli- 
ty of  everything  which  may  have 
been  done  in  their  presence.'  — 
While  the  admission  of  the  Due 
d'Orleans  to  the  Chamber  de- 
pended on  the  caprice  of  the 
Ministers,  he  could  exercise  in- 
fluence in  the  State  only  as  a  pri- 
vate individual ;  and  he  seems 
purposely  to  have  kept  aloof  from 
the  contests  of  party,  except  so 
far  as  the  conduct  of  himself  and 
family  was  a  continual  expression 
of  sympathy  with  the  Revolution. 
The  more  exalted,  it  is  true,  of 
the  liberal  party  complained  that 
the  desire  of  the  Due  d'Orleans 
to  prosecute  certain  territorial  or 
pecuniary  claims  of  his  on  the 
Government  prevented  his  acting 
openly  in  the  Opposition.  The 
support  he  afforded  to  some  lib- 
eral measures  had  given  displeas- 
ure to  Louis  XVlil.,  and  led  to 


TER,  1829—30. 

his  receiving  an  intimation  from 
that  King,  that  it  would  be  judi- 
cious for  him  to  abstain  from  all 
part  in  public  affairs.  Had  he  re- 
sisted, and  thrown  himself  warmly 
and  publicly  into  the  ranks  of  the 
Opposition,  he  would  have  prov- 
ed a  dangerous  enemy  of  the 
Government,  by  whomsoever  it 
might  be  administered.  But  with- 
out his  doing  this,  his  entire  life 
and  his  well  known  sentiments, 
spoke  for  the  part  he  would  take, 
when  a  proper  occasion  should 
arrive. 

Undoubtedly  the  decaying  do- 
mestic condition  of  the  reigning 
family,  as  compared  with  that  of 
the  House  of  Orleans,  contribut- 
ed to  augment  the  unkindly  feel- 
ing, with  which  this  liberal  mind- 
ed and  patriotic  prince  was  view- 
ed at  the  Tuileries.  He  was 
looked  upon  by  the  King  and  the 
Dauphin  as  a  collateral  heir,  pre- 
paring to  step  into  the  heritage  of 
their  expiring  line.  The  Dau- 
phin and  Dauphiness  were  old 
and  childless  ;  and  saving  the 
Due  d'Angouleme,  only  a  boy  of 
uncertain  health  kept  from  their 
hereditary  throne  the  descendant 
of  the  ambitious  and  unscrupu- 
lous Regent,  the  son  of  the  more 
ambitious  and  less  scrupulous 
Egalite.  While  the  fear  of  the 
contamination  of  liberal  princi- 
ples, added  to  the  not  less  anxious 
fear  of  assassination,  consigned  the 
Due  de  Bordeaux  to  the  seclusion 
of  private  tutors  amid  the  luxu- 
ries of  royal  life,  the  five  sons  of 
the  Due  d'Orleans  were  gaining 
a  manly  education  and  gathering 
'  golden  opinions'  at  the  ordinary 
schools  of  Paris.  His  oldest  son, 
especially,  the  Due  de  Chartres, 


FRANCE. 


363 


was  a  noble  promising  youth,  who 
collected  upon  himself  those  en- 
thusiastic tributes  of  popular  es- 
teem, which  seerned  to  belong  to 
an  heir  of  the  crown  rather  than  a 
mere  prince  of  the  blood. 

Taking  into  consideration  all 
the  circumstances  which  we  have 
thus  developed,  how  could 
France  fail  to  rest  her  hopes  upon 
the  Due  d'Orleans?  A  prince  of 
the  blood,  his  father  had  been  an 
ardent  promoter  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  had  worn  the  revolu- 
tionary cockade,  and  combated 
under  the  tricolored  banner  with 
distinguished  honor.  He  had 
constantly  refused  to  fight  against 
his  country,  although,  like  the  em- 
igrant bands  on  the  Rhine,  he  was 
an  outlawed  exile  deprived  of 
rank  and  wealth.  He  had  pass- 
ed the  weary  years  of  banish- 
ment in  manly  independence, 
earning  his  bread  like  a  roturier 
when  it  was  necessary,  and  ex- 
hibiting in  his  adversity  the  high- 
est traits  of  moral  courage,  forti- 
tude, and  true  dignity  of  spirit. 
Restored  to  his  titles  and  estates, 
and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  vast 
income  of  his  family,  he  had  lived 
among  his  fellow  citizens  fif- 
teen years,  beloved  for  his  private 
virtues,  honored  for  his  past 
life,  esteemed  for  the  liberality 
and  soundness  of  his  principles, 
and  looked  to  as  the  probable  fu- 
ture stay  of  his  country.  What 
wonder,  when  the  Revolu- 
tion of  the  Three  Days  had 
raised  an  impassable  barrier, 
had  placed  a  gulf  of  blood  be- 
tween the  King  and  the  People, 
that  all  eyes  should  have  been 
turned  towards  the  Due  d'Or- 


leans as  the  preordained  Chief  of 
the  Nation  ? 

While  the  contest  raged  in  Pa- 
ris, the  Due  d'Oj-leans  kept  him- 
self concealed  at  his  country  seat 
of  Neuilly,  situated  a  few  miles 
out  of  the  city.  It  is  perfectly 
clear  that  he  is  free  from  any  im- 
putation of  having  fomented  in- 
surrection, or  otherwise  taken 
steps  to  bring  about  the  contin- 
gency that  had  occurred.  What 
private  relations  he  may  pre- 
viously have  had  with  the  liberal 
party  we  know  not;  nor  is  the 
fact  material  to  the  present  ques- 
tion. It  is  self-evident  that  neith- 
er he  nor  any  body  else  but  the 
King  and  his  advisers  are  real- 
ly to  blame  for  the  actual  oc- 
currence of  the  Revolution.  It 
has  been  justly  remarked  that  '  To 
have  plotted  effectually  against 
Charles  X.  he  must  have  con- 
spired with  his  confessors  to  make 
him  a  bigot,  with  his  Ministers  to 
make  him  sign  the  fatal  Ordinan- 
ces, and  with  his  troops  to  massa- 
cre his  subjects  with  musketry 
and  grape  shot.'  In  fact,  the 
Due  d'Orleans  concealed  himself 
from  all  but  his  family,  until  the 
battle  of  the  Barricades  had  been 
fought,  the  Guards  were  driven 
from  Paris,  and  the  fortune  of  the 
reigning  dynasty  had  become 
irretrievably  desperate.  Thurs- 
day night  the  Deputies  determin- 
ed to  place  the  executive  au- 
thority for  the  time  being  in  his 
hands ;  and  giving  ear  at  last  to 
their  pressing  entreaties,  he  re- 
turned to  Paris  on  Friday,  and 
committed  himself  past  recal  to 
the  cause  and  the  consequences 
of  the  Revolution. 


364 


ANNUAL  REG[STER,  1829  —  30. 


Early  on  Friday  a  paper  was 
circulated,  printed  at  the  office  of 
the  JVational^  the  leading  journal 
of  the  victorious  party.  It  was 
in  these  words : 

'  Ordre  Official, 

'  Vive  la  Patrie  !  Vive  la  Lib- 
erie !  Vive  la  Charte  !  Et  a  has 
Charles  Dix  ! 

*  Vive  le  Due  d'Orleans,  notre 
Roi!' 

Indeed,  whatever  might  have 
been  the  wishes  of  individuals, 
many  reflecting  men  even  of  the 
republican  party,  who  desired 
only  the  greatest  good  of  the 
greatest  number,  were  convinced 
that  all  the  substantial  advantages 
of  a  commonwealth  would  be  at- 
tained by  calling  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans to  the  throne  upon  satisfac- 
tory conditions,  which  they  had 
the  full  power  to  stipulate.  It 
was  understood  that  La  Fayette 
and  his  colleagues  of  the  Ex- 
treme Left  were  content,  on  re- 
ceiving certain  guarantees  for  the 
public  liberties,  to  agree  to  his 
nomination.  The  views  of  the 
majority  of  the  leading  individu- 
als in  the  Chamber  were  ex- 
pressed in  an  article  of  the  JVa- 
tional  of  Friday,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  an  authorized  expo- 
sition of  their  sentiments  : 

'  After  fifteen  years  of  odious 
and  dishonorable  rule,  the  House 
of  Bourbon  is  for  the  second 
time  excluded  from  the  throne. 
The  Chamber  of  Deputies  has 
today  pronounced  this  grand 
resolution,  by  calling  the  House 
of  Orleans  to  the  Lieutenant 
Generalship  of  the  Kingdom. 

'  This  satisfaction  was  due  to 


the  French  People,  who  have 
endured,  during  fifteen  years,  a 
Government  incapable,  vexatious, 
prodigal,  and  injurious  to  the 
country. 

'  For  fifteen  years  France  has 
not  been  at  liberty  to  pronounce 
with  eulogium  the  glorious  names 
of  the  men  who  delivered  her  in 
1789.  The  Revolution  was  held 
to  be  an  act  for  which  the  coun- 
try was  bound  to  repent,  and  to 
ask  pardon.  France  was  obliged 
to  apologize  for  having  wished 
to  be  free. 

'  The  brave  men  of  the  old 
army  were  almost  compelled  to 
find  an  excuse  for  their  victories, 
or  were  forced  to  receive  from 
foreign  hands  the  confirmation  of 
their  glory. 

'  France  was  subject  to  the 
command  of  incapable  degen- 
erate princes,  nowise  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Nation. 

'  The  throne  was  destined  to 
pass  from  a  leeble  and  obstinate 
father,  destitute  of  any  kind  of 
knowledge,  to  a  son  without  in- 
telligence, and  unacquainted  with 
the  interests  he  was  to  direct, 

'  The  future  was  as  gloomy  for 
France  as  the  present. 

'  Finally  this  deposed  family 
shed  seas  of  French  blood  for 
the  cause  of  ursurped  power,  — 
that  comprehended  in  the  Ordi- 
nances. 

'  But  punishment  was  not  long 
delayed.  The  Ordinances  sub- 
versive of  our  rights  appeared  on 
Monday  ;  this  day,  Friday,  the 
forfeiture  is  pronounced. 

'  The  Chamber  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  establishing  a  Government 
in  lieu  of  that  just  overthrown. 
We  need  a  prompt,  vigorous,  and 


FRANCE. 


365 


active  organization.  Situated  in 
the  centre  of  Europe  amid  a 
number  of  rival  powers,  we  re- 
quire a  firm  and  stable  institution. 
The  Republic,  which  has  so 
many  attractions  for  generous 
minds,  succeeded  ill  with  us  thir- 
ty years  ago.  Exposed  to  the 
rivalry  of  the  generals,  it  fell  un- 
der the  blows  of  the  first  man  of 
genius,  who  tried  to  make  him- 
self its  master.  What  we  want  is 
that  Republic  disguised  under  a 
monarchy  by  means  of  represen- 
tative government.  The  Charter, 
aUvays  the  Charter,  with  such 
modifications  as  reason  and  the 
public  interest  indicate.' 

Sirailarobservations  were  made 
in  the  Globe,  from  which  w-e  ex- 
tract only  the  following  passage  : 

'The  Republic  has  but  one 
fault,  which  is,  that  it  seems  not 
to  be  possible  in  France.  Per- 
haps it  may  one  day  become  pos- 
sible, perhaps  it  is  the  definitive 
Government  to  which  all  nations 
are  advancing;  but  its  time  has 
not  yet  come.  The  heroes  of 
the  last  few  days  exclaimed 
J^ive  la  Charte  I  What  was 
meant  by  that  cry,  which  inspired 
such  noble  conduct?  May  the 
Charter,  developed  and  amended 
by  victory,  prove  an  equivalent 
for  the  Republic!  —  Supposing 
this  point  decided,  the  next  ques- 
tion is,  to  whom  shall  the  throne 
be  given  ?  The  name  of  the 
Due  d'Orleans  presents  itself. 
The  necessity  of  speedily  estab- 
lishing a  Government  is  univer- 
sally felt.  The  Due  d'Orleans  is 
among  us,  and  his  situation  is 
such  that  he  may  be  the  means 
of  pacifying  France,  and  saving 


us  from  the  hostihty  of  the  rest  of 
Europe.' 

The  wish  prevailing  at  Paris, 
therefore,  was  sufficiently  manifest 
in  favor  of  the  Due  d'Orleans, 
with  such  constitutional  stipula- 
tions as  should  secure  the  rights 
of  the  People.  The  only  inqui- 
ry with  him  could  be  whether 
any  deference  was  due  on  his 
part  to  the  rights  of  the  young 
Due  de  Bordeaux.  This,  to  be 
sure,  is  rather  a  question  of 
transcendental  morals ;  for  rarely 
can  men  be  found,  who,  in  such 
a  contingency,  would  thrust  from 
themselves  a  proffered  crown,  out 
of  tenderness  for  the  conflicting 
pretensions  of  a  distant  kinsman. 
But  there  are  two  considerations, 
which  are  conclusive  on  this 
point. 

The  Nation  had  resolved  to 
depose,  and  had  deposed,  not 
this  or  that  individual,  but  a  dy- 
nasty. It  was  the  whole  family 
of  Artois  of  which  they  were  de- 
termined to  be  rid  once  and  for- 
ever. The  battle  of  the  Barri- 
cades had  settled  their  fate  just 
as  decisively  and  definitively  as 
the  battle  of  Waterloo  had  done 
that  of  Napoleon.  The  Revo- 
lution was  over,  and  the  contro- 
versy disposed  of,  before  the  Due 
d'Orleans  was  called  upon  to  de- 
cide as  to  his  own  course.  Now, 
in  the  first  place,  as  a  matter  of 
expediency,  the  Due  d'Orleans 
could  adopt  no  other  alternative, 
because,  had  he  sought  to  make 
any  reservation  in  favor  of  young 
Henri,  he  would  only  have  drawn 
down  ruin  on  his  own  head.  The 
Nation  were  at  irreconcileable  war 
with  the  whole  House  of  Artois, 


366 


ANNUAL   REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


and  nothing  but  the  inoffensive 
life  of  the  Due  de  Bourbon  Con- 
de  and  the  personal  popularity  of 
the  Duo  d'Orleans  and  his  chil- 
dren saved  them  from  partaking 
in  the  sentence  of  proscription, 
which  had  gone  forth  against  the 
posterity  of  Robert  of  Bourbon. 
By  assuming  to  protect  the  rights 
of  the  Due  de  Bordeaux,  the 
Due  d'Orleans  would  have  ren- 
dered his  own  expulsion  from 
France  just  as  sure  as  that  of  the 
royal  family.  France  would  in 
that  case  inevitably  have  become 
a  Republic,  probably  with  La  Fay- 
ette for  President ;  for  young  Na- 
poleon had  no  strong  party  among 
the  intelligent  classes,  and  setting 
aside  the  princes  of  the  blood, 
what  other  human  being  could 
aspire  to  be  King  over  France  ? 

In  the  second  place,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  principle,  when  the  Due 
d'Orleans  put  on  the  tricolor, 
and  clambered  over  the  barri- 
cades to  make  his  way  to  the 
Palais  Royal,  he  gave  up  the 
whole  reigning  dynasty  alike,  in 
adopting  the  Revolution.  Charles 
Tenth  had  attempted  a  gross  usur- 
pation. He  had  made  war  on 
his  subjects  in  support  of  the  at- 
tempt, thus  voluntarily  submitting 
the  question  to  the  trial  by  battle, 
and  had  been  vanquished,  after 
making  his  own  issue,  choosing 
his  own  tribunal,  and  his  own 
mode  of  trial.  He  had  tried  the 
ultima  ratio,  and  spontaneously 
deprived  himself  of  redress,  by 
taking  a  decision  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  Here,  cf  course, 
was  an  end  of  his  case.  The  stake 
for  which  he  played  was  absolute 
power;  the  forfeiture  which  he 
stood  pledged  to  incur  if  he  failed, 


was  dethronement  and  exile;  and 
how  could  the  destinies  of  the 
boy  Henri  be  separated  from 
those  of  his  grandfather  and  un- 
cle ?  In  the  contest  of  the  Three 
Days  the  principle  of  the  royal 
right  of  usurpation  encountered 
the  principle  of  the  popular  right 
of  revolution,  and  the  latter  was 
victorious.  It  has  been  said,  that 
victory  is  the  visible  sentence  of 
the  gods  delivered  on  the  field  of 
battle,  in  favor  of  the  party  they 
protect ;  and  who,  —  in  a  coun- 
try with  free  institutions  derived 
from  the  same  source,  to  wit, 
successful  revolution,  —  will  de- 
ny that  in  the  battles  of  the  Three 
Days  the  righteous  cause  pre- 
vailed ?  And  supposing  the  Due 
d'Orleans  to  take  the  same  view 
of  the  subject,  as  all  the  acts  and 
opinions  of  his  life  prescribe  that 
he  must  have  done,  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  make  any  dis- 
tinction in  behalf  of  the  Due  de 
Bordeaux,  because  a  rising  in  his 
favor  would  have  been  an  aban- 
donment of  the  principle  of  the 
Revolution. 

We  hold,  therefore,  that  the 
Due  d'Orleans  acted  a  righte- 
ous no  less  than  a  wise  part,  in 
buckling  on  the  honors,  which  the 
decrees  of  Providence,  the  ipfatu- 
ation  of  the  reigning  family,  and 
the  spontaneous  voice  of  the  Na- 
tion, unitedly  devolved  upon  him. 
It  is  affirmed  that  Charles  X.  and 
his  advisers  at  Saint  Cloud,  anti- 
cipating that  the  Due  d'Orleans 
might  become  the  rallying  point 
of  the  revolutionists,  had  com- 
manded a  body  of  troops  to  ar- 
rest him  at  Neuilly,  at  the  very 
time  when  the  Deputies  in  Paris 
were  preparing  for  his"  reception 


FRANCE. 


367 


there.  If  it  were  so,  he  fortu- 
nately escaped  from  the  hands  of 
his  good  cousin,  to  meet  the  wish- 
es of  the  People.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  Saturday,  July  3 1st, 
he  had  an  interview  with  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Deputies,  and  in  the 
free  conversation  that  ensued  be- 
tween them,  as  reported  after- 
wards by  Comte  Sebastiani,  he 
expressed  his  love  of  order  and 
the  laws,  an  ardent  desire  to  spare 
France  the  scourge  of  civil  and 
foreign  war,  the  firm  purpose  of 
securing  the  liberty  of  his  coun- 
try, and  his  wish  to  make  the 
Charter,  which  had  been  so  long 
a  delusion,  a  reality  at  last.  — 
These  feelings  and  purposes  were 
embodied  by  the  Due  d'Orleans 
in  a  Proclamation,  which  he  is- 
sued at  noon  the  same  day,  in  the 
following  words : 

'  Inhabitants  of  Paris  :  The 
Deputies  of  France,  at  this  mo- 
ment assembled  in  Paris,  have 
signified  to  me  their  desire  that  I 
should  repair  to  this  capital  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  Lieuten- 
ant General  of  the  Kingdom. 

'  I  have  not  hesitated  to  come 
and  share  your  dangers,  to  place 
myself  in  the  midst  of  your  heroic 
population,  and  to  exert  all  my 
efforts  to  preserve  you  from  the 
calamities  of  civil  war  and  of  an- 
archy. 

'  On  returning  to  the  city  of 
Paris,  I  wore  with  pride  those 
glorious  colors  which  you  have 
resumed  and  which  I  myself  long 
wore. 

*  The  Chambers  are  about  to 
assemble  :  they  will  consider  of 
the  means  of  securing  the  reign 


of  law,  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  rights  of  the  nation. 

'  The  Charter  will  henceforth 
be  a  truth. 

'  Louis  Philippe  d'Orleans.' 

It  is  not  remarkable,  that  irf 
the  agitated  and  excited  state  of 
the  population  of  Paris,  this  proc- 
lamation should  have  produced 
a  great  and  a  varied  sensation, 
among  those,  who  were  not  in 
the  secret  of  the  political  move- 
ments of  the  Deputies.  A  large 
portion  of  the  citizens,  exched  by 
the  triumph  they  had  achieved, 
and  filled  with  just  indignation, 
were  distrustful  of  the  whole 
House  of  Bourbon,  When  the 
proclamation  appeared,  it  was  ob- 
jected to  for  a  reason  which  may 
now  seem  slight,  but  which  de- 
rived consequence  from  the  un- 
setded  state  of  public  affairs. 
The  victorious  people,  little  con- 
siderate of  the  etiquette  belonging 
to  the  forms  of  such  a  document, 
demanded  why  it  was  not  coun- 
tersigned by  the  Municipal  Com- 
mission, or  by  La  Fayette,  as  a 
sort  of  imprimatur y  a  certificate  of 
genuineness,  an  endorsement  of 
its  true  derivation  from  those 
trusted  patriots,  in  whom  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Barricades  reposed 
confidence. 

The  Deputies  assembled  at  M. 
Lafitte's  at  one  o'clock  to  receive 
the  report  of  the  Committee, 
which  had  conferred  with  the 
Due  d'Orleans,  and  to  take  mea- 
sures for  officially  making  known 
to  the  people  what  they  had 
done.  The  Due  d'Orleans  had 
been  called  to  the  post  of  Lieu- 
tenant General :    this  his  own 


368 


ANxNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


proclamation  made  known.  But 
by  whom  was  he  called,  for  what 
purpose,  and  under  what  condi- 
tions ?   All  this  it  was  important 
the  People  should  satisfactorily 
understand  ;  for  the  Deputies  had 
no  legal  authority,  as  a  constituent 
portion  of  the  State,  to  do  any 
act  whatever.    Tt  was  only  as  indi- 
viduals, having  personal  claim  to 
the  popular  confidence,  that  the 
Deputies  could  expect  obedience 
to  their  acts  ;  and  it  was  only  by 
the  pressing  exigency  of  the  ex- 
isting interregnum  that  they  were 
justified  in  assuming  to  create  a 
provisional  Government.    On  the 
third  of  August  they  would  be  a 
Chamber,  and  would  have  con- 
stitutional authority  as  such  ;  but 
now  they  could  interpose  only  as 
an  informal  assembly  of  the  most 
respected  individuals  in  France. 
Conscious  of  these  facts,  they  be- 
gan by  taking  steps  to  win  the 
approbation  of  the  People  to  the 
revolutionary  power  of  the  Due 
d'Orleans  ;  —  of    that  People, 
who,  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
were  the  admitted  depositaries  of 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  Na- 
tion, and  who  seemed  rather  dis- 
posed to  follow  the  political  guid- 
ance of  their  own  Commission 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  than  to 
look  to  the  Palais  Royal  or  to 
the  Deputies  for  advice  or  direc- 
tion. 

The  Deputies  speedily  agreed 
upon  a  proclamation  to  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  People  in  their  be- 
half, declaratory  of  the  views  they 
entertained  in  making  the  Due 
d'Orleans  Lieutenant  General. 
France,  they  say,  is  free.  Des- 
potism raised  its  standard,  but 
the  heroic  population  of  Paris 


had  overthrown  it,  and  what 
France  now  needed  was  a  Gov- 
ernment, which  might  be  able  to 
secure  to  the  country  the  advan- 
tages it  had  acquired.  With  this 
purpose  they  had  invited  the  Duo 
d'Orleans  to  assume  the  execu- 
tive functions  for  a  time,  as  the 
only  sure  means  of  peacefully  ac- 
complishing the  work  of  the 
Revolution.  They  added,  that 
the  Lieutenant  General  would 
respect  the  rights  of  the  Peo- 
ple, because  from  it  he  would 
derive  his  own  ;  and  that,  while 
intrusting  him  with  power,  they 
should  make  assurance  of  the 
strength  and  durability  of  their 
freedom,  by  the  most  satisfactory 
guarantees.  These  guarantees 
were  the  re-establishment  of  the 
National  Guard,  rendering  the 
officers  elective  ;  the  intervention 
of  the  citizens  in  the  formation  of 
the  municipal  and  departmental 
administration  ;  trial  by  jury  in 
affairs  of  the  Press ;  a  thor- 
oughly organized  responsibility  of 
the  public  servants;  the  situation 
of  the  military  legally  secured  ; 
and  the  re-election  of  Deputies 
appointed  to  offices  in  the  admin- 
istration of  Government. 

It  was  then  concluded  that,  to 
calm  the  popular-  effervescence, 
the  Deputies  should  repair  in  a 
body  to  the  Palais  Royal,  and 
personally  communicate  with  the 
Lieutenant  General  and  with  the 
citizens.  The  Deputies  accord- 
ingly hastened  thither,  headed  by 
M.  Lafitte,  their  temporary  Presi- 
dent, who  read  the  proclamation 
to  the  Duke  in  the  presence  of 
his  colleagues.  How  far  the 
Duke  may  have  been  sincere  in 
the  cordial  assent  he  gave  to  the 


PRANCE. 


369 


pvinciples  of  ihe  proclamation,  we 
know  not ;  but  certain  it  is  that 
he  expressed,  in  his  language  and 
manner,  the  warmest  approbation 
of  the  views  of  the  Deputies,  and 
especially  of  the  several  guaran- 
tees, which  they  stipulated  for  the 
rights  of  the  Nation,  and  the 
maintenance  and  development  of 
its  liberties.  His  words,  his  ges- 
tures, and  his  physiognomy,  says 
one  of  the  contemporary  accounts 
of  the  scene,  contended  in  ex- 
pressing satisfaction  and  pride  in 
being  associated  with  them  in  the 
regeneration  of  constitutional  or- 
der. At  the  very  time  when  the 
Deputies  arrived,  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans  was  preparing  to  go  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  alone  and  on 
horseback,  in  order  to  present  him- 
self before  the  National  Guards. 
It  was  immediately  proposed  and 
agreed  that  the  Deputies  should 
accompany  him,  in  a  body,  to  the 
head-quarters  of  i  berty  and  popu- 
lar right ;  and  the  importance  of 
the  interview  there  had  between 
the  Due  d'Orleans  and  the  party 
of  the  Revolution  represented  by 
La  Fayette  and  the  Municipal 
Commission,  renders  it  worthy  of 
detailed  notice. 

Out  of  the  fermentation  of  pub- 
lic, feeling  consequent  on  the 
splendid  victory  of  the  Three 
Days,  many  parties  had  of  course 
arisen,  each  desiring  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  system  of  govern- 
ment conformable  to  their  res- 
pective opinions.  The  names  of 
Napoleon  and  of  the  Republic 
resounded  in  the  public  ear,  from 
those  brave  men  of  the  faubourgs, 
who  had  gained  the  victory,  from 
ihose  high  spirited  youths,  who 
Ixad  led  on  the  soldiers  of  the 
32 


Barricades.  The  boldest  demo- 
cratic doctrines  were  loudly  dis- 
cussed, and  propagated  by  hand- 
bills placarded  at  every  corner. 
The  first  idea,  the  idea  that  would 
naturally  occur  to  the  victors,  was 
to  ascertain  the  national  will  by 
taking  the  suffrages  of  the  whole 
people  of  France,  in  the  manner 
designated  by  the  Constituent 
Assembly.  Men,  who  entertain- 
ed such  views,  could  not  but  look 
disapprovingly  on  the  proceedings 
of  the  Deputies,  in  undertaking 
to  confer  the  functions  of  Lieu- 
tenant General  on  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans with  the  intent  of  subse- 
quently elevating  him  to  the 
throne.  These  men  contended 
that  the  provisionary  Commis- 
sion of  Government,  which  deriv- 
ed its  authority  immediately  from 
insurrection  and  the  victory  of  the 
Barricades,  was  bound  to  con- 
tinue in  the  exercise  of  the  power 
thus  conferred  by  circumstances, 
until  the  future  ^destinies  of  the 
country  had  been  submitted  to  the 
voice  of  the  People.  They  went 
further,  and  affirmed  that  France 
did  not  want,  nor  would  it  have,  a 
King,  but  republican  institutions 
similar  to  those  of  the  United 
States.  And  they  contended  that, 
at  any  rate,  if  the  Due  d'Orleans 
was  to  be  called  upon  to  reign,  it 
should  be  after  adopting  a  new 
constitution,  and  submitting  to  the 
People  the  question  of  his  election. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  con- 
tended by  the  great  majority  of 
the  liberal  Deputies,  then  in  the 
very  zenith  of  their  popularity  as 
the  persevering  and  at  length  suc- 
cessful defenders  of  the  Charter, 
supported  by  the  great  body  of 
persons  who  felt  anxious  for  the 


370 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


restoration  of  public  tranquillity, 
that  it  was  of  urgent  necessity  to 
organize  the  Government  perma- 
nently with  all  possible  despatch. 
They  urged  that  nothing  was 
more  certain  to  awaken  divisions 
and  propagate  discord  among  the 
members  of  the  victorious  party, 
than  to  attempt  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  republican  forms,  which 
had  so  often  been  tried  in  vain  in 
France.  They  represented  that 
the  sudden  proclamation  of  the 
Republic  would  spread  alarm  in 
the  departments,  and  serve  as  a 
pretext  for  malecontents  to  stir 
up  intestine  war.  And  was  there 
not  just  cause  to  apprehend  that 
the  reestablishment  of  the  Repub- 
lic in  France  would  provoke  an- 
other coalition  war  against  her,  on 
the  part  of  those  jealous  propa- 
gandists of  despotism,  the  crown- 
ed heads  of  Europe  ?  If  a  war 
against  France  should  be  kindled 
by  her  enemies,  they  would  be 
glad  of  such  a  pretext  for  invad- 
ing her  territory,  and  would  com- 
pel her  to  sustain  immense  sacri- 
fices before  she  could  expect  to 
triumph  over  their  combined  hos- 
tility. Considering  all  these 
things,  considering,  as  La  Fay- 
ette himself  has  expressed  it,  the 
impressions  left  in  France  by  past 
vicissitudes,  the  nature  of  exist- 
ing circumstances  immediately 
surrounding  them,  and  the  inter- 
nal situation  of  the  country,  it 
appeared  to  the  great  mass  of 
those  individuals  who  gave  direc- 
tion to  public  opinion,  that  the 
choice  of  the  Due  d'Orleans,  the 
establishment  of  a  new  dynasty 
with  an  amended  Constitution, 
promised  better  for  the  order, 
welfare,  and  liberties  of  the  coun- 


try, than  the  Republic.  Still,  new 
conditions  were  indispensably  ne- 
cessary to  be  incorporated  in  the 
organization  of  the  reconstructed 
Monarchy;  —  and  the  settlement 
of  these  conditions  constitutes 
what  has  been  termed  the  pro- 
gramme  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  of 
which  so  much  has  since  been 
said.  And  the  tenor  of  this  play- 
bill, this  rehearsal  of  the  Consti- 
tutional drama  to  be  enacted,  has 
been  since  distinctly  explained  by 
the  organ  of  the  republican  party, 
La  Fayette  himself. 

The  Deputies  and  the  Due 
d'Orleans  made  their  way  slowly 
and  laboriously  through  the  streets, 
which  still  remained  blocked  up 
with  barricades.  In  the  scorching 
heat  of  a  summer's  sun,  and  at 
length  reached  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  They  were  received  here 
by  La  Fayette,  as  commander  of 
the  National  Guard,  and  as  the 
representative  of  the  men  of  the 
Barricades,  a  cortege  of  the  young 
heroes  of  the  Polytechnic  School 
standing  around  him  in  the  salle 
d^armes  or  great  hall  of  the  Ho- 
tel. In  the  course  of  the  inter- 
view La  Fayette  conceived  that 
the  authority  and  popular  confi- 
dence, with  which  he  was  invest- 
ed, gave  him  the  right,  and  made 
it  his  duty,  to  explain  himself 
frankly  in  the  name  of  the  People, 
to  the  candidate  for  the  throne. 
'  You  know,'  said  La  Fayette, 
*  that  I  am  a  Republican,  and 
that  1  regard  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  as  the  most 
perfect  in  existence.'  '  I  think 
with  you,'  said  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans ;  '  it  is  impossible  to  have 
passed  two  years  in  America,  and 
not  to  be  of  this  behef ;  but  do 


FRANCE. 


371 


you  deem  it  expedient  to  adopt 
it,  in  the  actual  situation  of  France 
and  state  of  general  opinion  ?'  — 
'  No,'  replied  La  Fayette  ;  '  what 
the  French  Nation  wants  at  this 
moment  is  a  popular  Monarchy, 
surrounded  by  republican,  purely 
republican,  institutions '  It  is 
exactly  as  I  understand  it,'  an- 
swered the  Prince.  This  mutual 
engagement,  which,  says  La  Fay- 
ette, may  be  appreciated  at  its 
value,  but  which  he  hastened  to 
make  public  as  embodying  the 
conditions  of  the  new  social  com- 
pact, had  the  effect  of  uniting  to- 
gether both  those  who  did  not 
wish  for  a  King  at  all,  and  those 
who  wished  for  any  other  but  a 
Bourbon.  La  Fayette  and  the 
Due  d'Orleans  then  went  to  a 
window  hand  in  hand,  and  look- 
ing out  upon  the  assembled  mul- 
titude in  the  square  below,  the 
People  of  France  as  it  were  in 
proper  person,  they  waved  from 
the  window  a  tricolored  flag  as 
the  symbol  of  liberty  and  concord, 
amid  the  acclamations  and  ap- 
plauses of  the  congregated  men 
of  the  Barricades. 

Imagination  can  hardly  picture 
to  itself  a  more  sublime  and 
splendid  spectacle  than  that  of 
this  venerable  Apostle  of  Liber- 
ty, the  good  and  great  La  Fay- 
ette, treading  under  foot  all  aspi- 
rations after  power  in  his  own 
person,  regardless  of  the  tempting 
glory  of  becoming  President  of  a 
French  Republic  created  by  him- 
self, bidding  farewell  to  his  party 
predilections,  to  the  enthusiastic 
visions  of  his  country's  liberty, 
perhaps,  which  had  cheered  him 
on  through  his  chequered  career 
in  the  battle  fields  of  America,  in 


the  spirit  stirring  scenes  of  the 
first  Revolution,  in  the  dungeons 
of  Olmutz,  in  the  untrusted  se- 
clusion fixed  on  him  by  the  Em- 
pire for  whose  honors  he  was  too 
pure,  in  the  disheartening  strug- 
gles against  foreign  power  and 
ministerial  duplicity  which  follow- 
ed the  Restoration,  —  sacrificing 
everything,  all  the  cherished  prin- 
ciples of  his  long  life,  from  the  un- 
willing conviction  that  it  was 
demanded  for  the  peace  and 
tranquillity  of  France.  Nor  was 
the  occasion,  the  manner  in  which 
the  surrender  was  made,  less  re- 
markable than  the  sacrifice  itself. 
La  Fayette  stood  not  in  the  atti- 
tude of  a  fortunate  soldier,  using 
the  authority  of  military  power  to 
control  the  current  of  the  public 
deliberations,  and  throwing  his 
sword  into  the  lighter  scale  as  the 
balance  of  reason  oscillated  before 
his  eyes.  He  did  not  occupy  the 
position  of  a  popular  demagogue, 
a  Roman  Gracchus,  or  a  Flemish 
Von  Artaveldt,  pursuing  purposes 
so  mixed  in  their  nature,  that 
whether  private  ambition  or  pub- 
lic interest  predominated  it  is  hard 
to  say,  and  giving  the  potent  en- 
ergies of  a  resistless  democracy  a 
direction  inward  upon  the  very 
heart  and  vitals  of  their  own 
mother  land.  He  appeared  there, 
on  the  ancient  theatre  of  the  com- 
munes of  Paris,  amid  scenes  hal- 
lowed by  the  triumphs  and  sad- 
dened by  the  abuses  of  freedom, 
himself  the  embodied  personifica- 
tion of  the  liberal  and  republican 
opinions  of  France,  the  represen- 
tative of  a  great  principle  not  of  a 
parly  of  men,  making  sacred  stip- 
ulations in  behalf  of  that  principle, 
as  the  condition  of  suffering  the 


372 


ANNUAL    REGISTER,  182p  — 30. 


liberties  of  his  country  to  pass 
under  the  guardianship  of  an 
hereditary  prince. 

In  consequence  of  the  proceed- 
ings at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  all 
opposition  to  the  authority  of  the 
Lieutenant  General  ceased.  The 
functions  of  the  Municipal  Com- 
mission of  course  came  to  a  close 
at  the  same  time,  and  Commis- 
sioners were  appointed  to  fill  pro- 
visionally the  several  departments 
of  Government.  General  Gserard 
was  appointed  to  the  department 
of  War,  M.  Dupont  de  I'Eure  to 
that  of  Justice,  M.  Guizot  to  the 
Interior,  Baron  Louis  to  that  of 
Finance,  and  M.  de  Reinhart  to 
that  of  Foreign  Affairs.  When 
the  Due  d'Orleans  assumed  the 
executive  authority,  La  Fayette 
resigned  the  command  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard,  but  was  prevailed  on 
to  accept  it  again,  in  order  that 
the  New  Government  might  enjoy 
the  sanction  of  his  venerated 
name.  The  first  measure  of  the 
Lieutenant  General  had  been  to 
issue  an  ordinance  containing  the 
single  provision  :  —  '  The  French 
Nation  resumes  its  colors.  No 
other  cockade  shall  henceforth  be 
worn  than  the  tricolored  cockade :' 
thus  ratifying  the  spontaneous  act 
of  the  citizens,  and  rendering  it  a 
part  of  the  law.  At  the  same 
time  another  ordinance  appeared 
for  the  regular  convocation  of  the 
two  Chambers  on  the  3d  of  Au- 
gust, the  day  originally  fixed  for 
that  purpose  by  the  dethroned 
King.  Some  other  incidental 
measures  were  taken  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
of  which  the  most  remarkable  was 
an  ordinance  repealing  the  numer- 
ous condemnations  for  political 


offences  of  the  Press,  discharging 
from  arrest  all  persons  confined 
for  such  offences,  remitting  their 
fines  and  costs,  and  quashing  all 
pending  prosecutions. 

Meanwhile  the  ordinary  course 
of  private  affairs  in  the  city  began 
to  be  resumed.  On  Saturday 
the  clerks  of  the  Post  Office  had 
returned  to  their  duty,  and  letters 
were  again  received  and  deliver- 
ed as  usual.  Some  embarrass- 
ments arose  in  regard  to  commer- 
cial engagements,  the  discharge  of 
which  had  been  of  necessity 
prevented  or  suspended  during 
the  late  political  commotions.  — 
The  Municipal  Commission  re- 
solved to  remedy  the  difficulty  by 
granting  an  extension  of  ten  days 
on  all  acceptances  payable  in  Par- 
is and  falling  due  between  the 
26th  of  July  and  the  15th  of 
August.  In  accordance  with  this 
regulation,  the  Tribunal  of  Com- 
merce issued  a  decree  ratifying 
the  extension  of  payments,  assign- 
ing for  reason  that  all  commercial 
transactions  having  been  forcibly 
suspended  and  communications 
interrupted,  the  regular  payment 
of  bills  during  that  period  had 
been  rendered  wholly  impractica- 
ble. On  Saturday,  also,  the  Bank 
of  France  was  opened,  and  most 
of  the  private  bankers  resumed 
the  transaction  of  business  in  the 
ordinary  way.  The  barriers, 
moreover,  were  thrown  open  this 
day,  so  as  to  allow  the  diligences 
to  proceed  as  they  had  done  be- 
fore the  Revolution. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from 
this  that  Paris  exhibited  a  peace- 
ful aspect,  during  these  the  few 
days  immediately  succeeding  the 
contest.    Apprehension  of  possi- 


FRANCE. 


373 


ble  surprise  prevented  the  remo- 
val of  the  barricades,  so  that  an 
invading  foe  would  have  found 
the  streets  unpaved,  the  houses 
embattled,  and  obstructions  of 
every  conceivable  kind  thrown  up 
in  the  great  thoroughfares.  As  a 
measure  of  salubrity,  the  inhabit- 
ants made  gutters  in  the  streets, 
to  carry  off  the  stagnant  water 
without  endangering  the  barri- 
cades. The  principal  avenues 
were  continually  crowded  with 
persons  going  about  from  curiosi- 
ty, or  with  assemblages  of  armed 
men  of  every  variety  of  dress, 
equipments,  and  weapons.  Dur- 
ing the  evening  the  absence  of 
the  street  lamps  was  supplied  by 
lights  in  the  windows.  Sentinels 
were  of  course  stationed  at  all  the 
important  points,  consisting  partly 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  National 
Guard,  and  partly  of  the  ordinary 
armed  citizens,  whose  only  title  of 
service  was  their  participation  in 
the  victory  of  the  Barricades.  — 
The  Palace  of  the  Tuileries  was 
purposely  left  in  charge  of  the 
brave  men,  who  had  driven  the 
Royal  Guards  before  them  on 
Thursday,  and  gained  possession 
of  its  halls  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet ;  so  that  rough  clad  and 
irregularly  armed  citizens  took 
the  place  of  the  trim  sentinels, 
who  formerly  guarded  its  pre- 
cincts. Amid  all  these  indica- 
tions of  pending  insurrection,  with 
all  the  populace  of  Paris  and  its 
environs  thronging  the  streets,  and 
the  poorest  artisans  in  arms  for 
the  cause  of  freedom,  the  most 
absolute  respect  of  private  prop- 
erty was  exhibited,  notwithstand- 
ing the  abundant  opportunities  of 
32* 


license,  which  naturally  offer 
themselves  at  such  a  period. 

The  Government  lost  no  time, 
however,  in  providing  a  regular 
military  force,  for  the  protection  of 
the  public  liberties  against  what- 
ever aggression.  Twenty  regi- 
ments of  the  National  Guard  were 
organized  without  delay,  the  lists 
being  filled  up  with  a  rapidity, 
which  assured  the  minds  of  the 
most  timid,  that  defenders  would 
not  be  wanting  to  sustain  the  Gov- 
ernment, either  against  popular 
outrage  or  the  efforts  of  the  de- 
throned family  and  their  partisans. 
In  fact,  soldiers  of  all  descriptions 
came  in  continually  to  join  the 
popular  ranks,  many  of  them  vet- 
erans of  the  old  arm}^,  who  were 
treated  with  peculiar  respect  on 
all  hands.  An  occasion  speedily- 
occurred,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  for  testing  the  spirit  and  res- 
olution of  the  citizens. 

Our  narrative  of  the  events  of 
the  Revolution  has  been  confined 
thus  far  to  Paris.  There  in  fact 
the  contest,  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  began  and  ended.  But  it 
is  to  be  understood  that  identically 
the  same  feeling  existed  in  the 
departments,  where  the  receipt  of 
the  Ordinances  was  followed  by 
a  simultaneous  rising  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  the  organization  of 
insurrection  just  as  in  Paris.  In 
some  of  the  great  cities,  especial- 
ly Rouen  and  Nantes,  the  popular 
enthusiasm  broke  out  into  open 
resistance,  before  it  was  known 
what  steps  would  be  taken  at  the 
metropolis.  It  was  the  same  at 
Lyons.  The  large  towns  around 
Paris,  if  they  did  not  anticipate 
the  movement  in  that  city,  were 


374 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


not  backward  in  following  it  up. 
It  was  not  Paris,  which  produced 
the  Revolution.  The  whole  Na- 
tion was  animated  with  but  one 
sentiment,  which  produced  a  una- 
nimity of  action,  as  decided  and 
marked  as  if  it  had  been  the  re- 
sult of  concert,  although  it  is  per- 
fectly certain  that  the  publication 
ot  the  Ordinances  was  wholly  un- 
expected, and  therefore  could  not 
have  been  prepared  for,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  produce  the  universal 
movement  of  resistance,  which 
actually  took  place. 

Troops  had  been  ordered  to 
Paris  from  the  camp  at  Saint 
Omer.  They  advanced  as  far  as 
Poix,  a  village  two  or  three  days' 
march  from  Paris,  where  they 
halted,  and  on  receiving  orders  to 
that  effect  from  General  Gerard 
in  the  name  of  the  provisional 
government,  they  marched  back 
to  Saint  Omer  under  new  colors, 
the  soldiers  having  of  their  own 
motion  procured  tri-colored  cock- 
ades from  Paris  by  the  diligences. 
A  division  stationed  at  Versailles 
under  General  Bordesoulle,  had 
commenced  its  march  for  Paris 
in  support  of  Marshal  Marmont, 
but  turned  back  on  learning  the 
evacuation  of  Paris,  intending  to 
return  to  its  old  quarters.  Mean- 
while the  National  Guard  of  Ver- 
sailles had  got  under  arms,  and 
threatened  to  exclude  the  troops ; 
but,  after  some  negotiation  be- 
tween the  two  parties,  they  came 
to  an  amicable  understanding,  and 
the  soldiers  entered  Versailles 
amid  cries  of  T^ive  la  Charte!  In 
truth  the  events  of  Thursday  had 
lirnited  the  Kingdom  of  Charles 
Tenth  to  the  Chateau  of  Saint 


Cloud,  and  the  great  avenues 
around  it,  which  the  defeated  sol- 
diers of  the  Guard  continued  to 
occupy. 

When  the  Due  de  Raguse  re- 
tired to  Saint  Cloud,  nothing  could 
exceed  the  consternation  which 
his  appearance  there,  followed  by 
the  flying  troops,  produced  on  the 
royal  conspirators  assembled  at 
the  Chateau.  Such  was  the  ex- 
cess of  their  infatuation,  that  they 
had  not  dreamed  of  the  possibili- 
ty of  so  untoward  an  event,  and 
the  intelligence  of  defeat  and  rout 
came  upon  them  with  the  stun- 
ning suddenness  of  a  clap  of  thun- 
der. The  weak  minded  Dauphin 
was  roused  into  a  sort  of  phren- 
zy,  on  seeing  the  Due  de  Ra- 
guse. Breaking  out  in  the  most 
insulting  language  towards  Mar- 
mont, the  Dauphin  ordered  him 
under  arrest,  and  seizing  on  his 
sword,  endeavored  to  break  it 
across  the  pummel  of  his  saddle 
so  precipitately  as  to  cut  him- 
self in  the  act  of  doing  it.  Soon 
afterwards  the  deputation  sent  to 
treat  with  the  insurgents  came 
back  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  with 
tidings  that  the  offer  of  accom- 
modation was  too  late,  and  that 
Charles  had  nothing  to  expect 
from  the  voluntary  act  of  his  late 
subjects.  To  be  restored  to  pow- 
er, he  must  continue  the  appeal  to 
arms.  But  it  was  conclusively 
shown  by  the  declaration  and  con- 
duct of  the  troops,  that  they  had 
no  disposition  to  protract  the 
struggle.  They  were  fatigued 
with  their  exertions,  and  disheart- 
ened by  want  of  food  and  other 
necessaries,  and  by  the  conviction 
that  they  were  on  the  wrong  side. 


FRANCE. 


375 


We  may  imagine,  better  than  we 
can  describe,  the  agony  of  disap- 
pointment, chagrin,  and  self-re- 
proach, which  at  this  hour  must 
have  borne  down  the  royal  family, 
and  such  of  the  partisans  of  coups 
cfetat  as  still  clung  to  the  fallen 
monarch. 

Notwithstanding  the  desperate 
state  of  things  at  Saint  Cloud,  an 
effort  was  made  on  Friday  to 
place  the  Chateau  in  a  state  of 
defence.  Battalions  of  the  Guard 
were  posted  along  the  roads 
leading  to  Saint  Cloud  from 
Paris  and  Versailles.  Addresses 
to  the  soldiers  from  the  revolu- 
tionary Government  were  largely 
circulated,  inviting  them  to  aban- 
don the  King.  These  overtures 
were  favorably  received  by  the 
troops  of  the  Line,  a  whole  regi- 
ment of  which  piled  their  arms,  and 
marched  off  to  Paris;  —  but  a 
principle  of  honor  kept  the  Guards 
together,  conscious  as  they  were 
of  the  hopelessness  of  the  royal 
cause,  and  subjected  to  many 
privations,  which  the  King  want- 
ed disposition  or  power  to  relieve. 
Indeed,  Charles,  instead  of  having 
the  means  of  molesting  the  Par- 
isians, now  began  to  be  seriously 
alarmed  for  his  own  safety,  as  re- 
ports reached  him  that  the  victo- 
rious bourgeois  began  to  prepare 
for  attacking  him  at  Saint  Cloud. 
At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  Saturday,  the  royal  family,  with 
the  Ministers  and  other  persons 
who  remained  attached  to  the 
Court,  left  Saint  Cloud  in  the 
midst  of  the  household  troops, 
who  resolved  to  protect  the  King 
against  the  citizens,  determining 
at  the  same  time  not  to  engage  in 
any  hostilities  of  their  own  accord. 


The  King  halted  at  Versailles, 
taking  up  his  quarters  in  the  Tri- 
anon, a  small  royal  residence  in 
the  Park  of  Versailles,  where  the 
royal  family  and  the  Ministers  met 
for  the  last  time.  From  Ver- 
sailles he  continued  onward  to 
Rambouillet,  a  village  ten  leagues 
from  Paris,  where  there  is  a 
hunting  Chateau  belonging  to  the 
crown.  Here  a  camp  was  form- 
ed with  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
making  a  stand.  But  on  Sunday 
the  1st  of  August  information  was 
brought  to  the  Court  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  day  before  in  re- 
gard to  the  Due  d'Orleans;  and 
the  next  day  Charles  and  the 
Dauphin  addressed  a  communica- 
tion to  the  Lieutenant  General,  re- 
nouncing their  rights  in  favor  of 
the  Due  de  Bordeaux,  and  charg- 
ing the  Due  d'Orleans  to  cause 
the  accession  of  Henry  V.  to  be 
proclaimed.  Meanwhile  the  jew- 
els of  the  crown  had  been  with- 
drawn from  their  place  of  deposit 
in  Paris  early  in  the  last  week, 
and  were  now  under  the  control  of 
Charles.  To  the  act  of  abdica- 
tion no  other  answer  was  given 
but  to  despatch  a  Commission, 
consisting  of  Marshal  Maison, 
M.  de  Schonen,  and  M.  Odillon 
Barrot,  to  demand  the  regalia  and 
require  the  royal  family  to  has- 
ten their  departure  from  the 
Kingdom.  The  King  refused  to 
see  the  Commission,  and  instead 
of  disposing  himself  to  comply 
with  their  injunctions,  caused  the 
Guards  to  be  sounded  as  to  their 
willingness  to  retire  to  La  Ven- 
dee and  repeat  the  struggle  of  the 
former  Revolution.  But  neither 
the  officers  nor  the  soldiers  would 
listen  to  any  such  scheme.  The 


376 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


day  of  uncalculating  frantic  roy- 
alism  had  long  since  passed  away. 
The  Guards  were  Frenchmen  in 
spirit  as  in  fact  ;  and  selected,  as 
they  had  been,  for  their  fidelity  to 
the  House  of  Bourbon,  still  they 
were  too  wise,  and  too  fond  of 
their  country,  to  engage  to  embark 
in  a  desperate  and  unavailing  con- 
tention in  behalf  of  a  prostrate 
dynasty,  who  had  proved  them- 
selves incapable  of  reigning,  and 
whose  fatal  incompetency  was 
alike  ruinous  to  their  friends  and 
themselves.  Instead  of  manifest- 
ing any  readiness  to  sustain  a  civil 
war,  the  Guards  resolved,  in  the 
words  of  M.  de  Bermond,  only 
*  to  place  themselves  between  the 
royal  family  and  any  portion  of 
their  subjects  who  might  be  ex- 
cited to  attack  them,  pending  the 
negotiations  which  were  to  decide 
the  fate  of  France.' 

The  Commission  lost  no  time 
in  reporting  to  the  Government  at 
Paris  that  Charles  refused  to  ac- 
cept of  their  safe  conduct  for  his 
retirement  from  the  country,  in- 
sisting that  he  had  abdicated  only 
in  favor  of  the  Due  de  Bordeaux, 
and  that  he  should  remain  at 
Rambouillet,  and  defend  himself 
there,  until  he  received  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  from  the  Lieutenant 
General.  The  announcement  of 
this  resolution  brought  matters  to 
a  crisis  at  once.  It  was  impossi- 
ble to  suffer  an  armed  force, 
which  withheld  obedience  from 
the  new  Government,  to  remain 
within  a  day's  march  of  the  capi- 
tal ;  and  equally  impossible  to 
restrain  the  public  irritation,  ex- 
cited by  the  obstinacy  of  the  King. 
There  was  imminent  danger  that 
the    inflamed    populace  would, 


of  their  own  accord,  rise  in  a 
mass  and  proceed  to  attack  the 
royal  camp  and  family;  in  which 
case,  if  left  to  themselves,  they 
might  commit  some  deplorable 
excess,  which  would  dishonor  the 
cause  of  the  Revolution. 

The  citizens  were  already  ring- 
ing the  tocsin,  and  arming  them- 
selves without  waiting  for  orders. 
To  prevent  the  possible  conse- 
quences, the  Government  lost  no 
time  in  arranging  an  expedition 
under  the  command  of  responsible 
officers,  who  might  control,  as 
well  as  direct,  the  popular  move- 
ments. The  National  Guard 
v^^ere  summoned  to  their  posts, 
and  it  was  announced  to  them 
that  the  ground  assumed  by  the 
King  required  that  he  should  be 
compelled  to  depart  or  surrender, 
and  that  to  effect  this  object  the 
Government  called  on  the  citi- 
zens to  enlist  for  an  attack  on  the 
camp  at  Rambouillet.  The  an- 
nouncement was  received  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm.  Thou- 
sands volunteered  in  the  course  of 
a  few  hours,  and  were  despatch- 
ed in  omnibuses,  hackney  coach- 
es, cabriolets,  diligences,  coucous, 
carts,  —  in  short,  in  every  species 
of  carriage,  which  Paris  afforded. 
In  addition  to  six  thousand  troops 
of  the  National  Guard,  were 
thousands  of  the  half  armed  but 
resolute  and  excited  men  of  the 
Barricades,  who  poured  out  of 
Paris  in  a  tumultuary  force,  and 
if  they  had  come  in  conflict  with 
the  royal  family  would  have  been 
as  dangerous  and  as  ungovernable 
as  the  militant  mobs  of  October, 
1789.  The  command  of  the 
expedition  was  given  to  General 
Pajol,  having  under  him  General 


I 


FRANCE. 


377 


Excelmans,  Colonel  Jacqueminot, 
and  M.  Georges  La  Fayette. 

Meanwhile  the  Comnfiissioners 
hurried  on  to  Rambouillet  once 
more,  in  advance  of  the  army, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  last 
effort  to  persuade  the  King  to 
listen  to  reason.  They  repre- 
sented to  him  the  extreme  hazard 
he  would  run  by  an  encounter 
with  the  mighty  host  of  unscru- 
pulous men,  who  were  on  the  way 
to  Rambouillet.  As  had  all  along 
happened  with  Charles,  he  yield- 
ed to  selfish  considerations  of 
personal  safety,  where  he  had 
been  regardless  of  the  blood  of 
his  People,  and  consented  to 
dismiss  all  intention  of  resistance 
and  accept  the  safe  conduct  of 
the  Commissioners.  Indeed  such 
was  the  consternation  of  the  King, 
that  his  Court  broke  up  in  great 
confusion  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  August  3d,  and  set  off 
without  waiting  for  the  appear- 
ance of  his  good  friends  of  the 
faubourgs  of  Paris.  The  armed 
citizens  had  ere  this  arrived  at  a 
village  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Rambouillet,  where  they  bi- 
vouacked for  the  night.  On  learn- 
ing the  departure  of  the  King  the 
next  morning,  they  seized  on  the 
coaches  belonging  to  the  Court, 
and  whatever  other  vehicles  they 
could  find,  and  returned  to  Paris 
on  the  4th,  forming  a  vast  pro- 
cession of  soldiers  and  citizens, 
who  entered  the  city  shouting  the 
Marseilles  Hymn,  and  firing  their 
guns  into  the  air  in  triumph. 

The  King  had  selected  Great 
Britain  as  a  place  of  refuge.  It 
was  arranged  between  him,  and 
the  Commissioners  that  he  should 
restore  the  crown  jewels,  and  be 


furnished  with  the  sum  of  four 
millions  of  francs  in  money  for 
his  private  use.  He  desired  to 
quit  France  by  the  way  of  Cher- 
bourg, and  thither  accordingly  the 
Commissioners  directed  their 
course.  At  Dreux,  where  they 
halted  after  leaving  Rambouillet, 
the  King  dismissed  all  the  troops 
except  the  body-guard,  which 
continued  with  him  as  far  as  Cher- 
bourg. The  Ministers,  aware  of 
the  danger  they  incurred  of  being 
brought  to  trial  for  their  crimes, 
had  fled  secretly  and  in  disguise, 
in  different  directions,  before  the 
King  submitted.  The  roya! 
family  passed  along  slowly  through 
Normandy,  deserted  by  the  per- 
fidious counsellors  and  courtiers, 
who  had  contributed  by  their  ad- 
vice, to  the  destitution  and  hu- 
miliation, which  now  pressed  upon 
the  last  of  the  Bourbons.  They 
were  protected  from  public  insult 
and  injury  less  by  the  feeble  guard, 
which  surrounded  them,  than  by 
the  tricolored  scarfs  of  the  Com- 
missioners, and  the  universal  sym- 
pathy entertained  for  fallen  great- 
ness :  —  for  everywhere  they 
found  the  national  flag  flying  on 
the  towers,  and  the  inhabitants  in 
arms  for  the  Charter. 

The  exiles  embarked  at  Cher- 
bourg in  an  American  ship,  en- 
gaged at  Havre  for  that  purpose, 
and  landed  in  England  the  17th 
of  August.  They  were  received 
there  with  but  litde  show  of  re- 
spect ;  for  how  indeed  could  any 
respect  be  felt  for  such  men  as 
Charles  or  Louis  Antoine  ?  The 
compassionate  hospitality  due  to 
their  rank  and  their  situation  was 
of  course  extended  towards  them, 
and  nothing  more.    The  King 


378 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


repaired  to  Lulworth  in  Dorset- 
shire, the  seat  of  an  ancient  Eng- 
lish Catholic  family,  where  he 
remained  until  the  old  apartments 
at  Holyrood  House,  in  Edin- 
burgh, which  he  had  occupied 
previous  to  the  Restoration,  were 
again  prepared  for  his  recep- 
tion. In  that  ancient  Palace  a 
retreat  of  congenial  recollections 
for  the  relics  of  a  royal  House, 
which  had  rivalled  the  Stuarts, 
in  the  infatuation  of  its  folly, 
Charles  and  his  son  had  leisure 
for  the  life  of  peace  and  seclusion, 
which  alone  became  their  present 
condition. 

In  thus  tracing  the  responsible 
members  of  this  unhappy  family 
from  power  to  privacy,  from  the 
splendors  of  the  Tuileries  and 
Saint  Cloud  to  the  humble  retire- 
ment of  Holyrood,  we  have  hither- 
to omitted  to  speak  of  those  com- 
panions of  their  exile,  who  had 
participated  in  a  tenfold  degree 
in  the  calamities  and  sorrows  of 
their  House,  whilst  wholly  free  of 
its  guilt.  We  allude  to  the 
daughter  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and 
the  widow  of  the  Due  de  Berri, 
who  suffered  because  others  had 
sinned.  The  language  of  con- 
demnation and  reproach,  which 
we  have  so  frequently  had  occa- 
sion to  apply  to  the  male  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family,  belongs 
not  to  them.  Neither  the  King 
nor  the  Dauphin  is  deserving  of 
much  pity,  and  they  are  entitled 
to  no  respect.  The  Duchess 
d'Angouleme  has  a  claim  to  both 
respect  and  pity  ;  and  so  also  has 
the  Duchess  de  Berri,  and  will 
continue  to  have,  unless  she  for- 
feits it  by  a  succession  of  indis- 
creet attempts  in  favor  of  her  son. 


The  Comte  d'Artois  was  bred 
in  the  profligate  Court  of  Louis 
XV.,  and  passed  a  youth  of  dis- 
sipation and  idleness,  until  the 
Revolution  came  to  arrest  his 
disorderly  career,  and  teach  him 
that  princes  were  amenable  to 
the  tribunal  of  public  opinion  and 
public  justice.  He  emigrated  at 
an  early  period,  and  hovered 
about  the  frontiers  of  France, 
joining  in  the  poor  schemes  of 
invasion  of  his  family  circle,  un- 
til the  success  of  Bonaparte  drove 
them  from  the  Continent  to  seek 
an  asylum  in  England.  At  the 
age  of  sixtyeight  he  succeeded 
Louis  XVIII.,  whose  dying  ad- 
vice to  his  successor  was  to  ^gov- 
ern legally.^  For  a  time  Charles 
X.  seemed  disposed  to  abide  by 
the  death-bed  injunction  of  his 
brother,  and  to  govern  in  the 
sense  of  the  Charter.  But  he 
was  weak,  vain,  headstrong,  una- 
ble to  appreciate  the  exigencies  of 
his  position,  —  and  fell  into  the 
hands  of  unworthy  counsellors, 
who  had  never  forgiven  the  Revo- 
lution, and  longed  for  the  return 
of  absolutism. 

Had  the  Dauphin  possessed 
the  energy  of  character  demand- 
ed by  his  relation  to  the  country 
and  the  situation  of  his  family,  he 
might  have  retarded  the  fall  of  the 
Bourbons;  but  unfortunately  for 
them  all,  however  good  a  hunter, 
he  was  a  weak  man  and  an  incapa- 
ble ruler.  Louis  XVIII.  sought 
to  acquire  for  him  some  of  that 
military  renown,  which  the  French 
so  much  admire  in  their  princes, 
by  giving  him  the  nominal  com- 
mand of  the  Spanish  expedition. 
The  inglorious  events  of  this  war 
against  the    Cortes   have  been 


FRANCE. 


379 


sculptured  on  the  arch  of  the 
Carrousel,  in  place  of  the  great 
victories  of  the  year  1805,  which 
the  Allies  removed  when  they 
occupied  Paris.  But  the  title  of 
Duque  del  Trocadero  is  all  that 
theDciuphin  can  fairly  claim  as  his 
own  share  of  the  honors  of  the 
campaign,  and  he  has  since  repos- 
ed on  his  laurels  —  until  he 
wounded  himself  in  the  very 
brave  and  highly  meritorious  act 
of  disarming  Marshal  Marmont 
on  the  last  of  the  Three  Days. 
He  appears  to  have  entered  cor- 
dially into  the  mad  projects 
of  Polignac,  and  divides  with 
his  father  the  loss  and  the  shame 
of  unsuccessful  usurpation. 

Not  so  the  Duchesse  d'Angou- 
leme,  whom  Napoleon,  with  his 
accustomed  discrimination,  has 
termed  the  only  man  among  the 
Bourbons.  The  daughter  of  a 
long  line  of  Kings,  she  has  seen 
her  father  and  mother  perish  on 
the  scaffold,  her  brother  clandes- 
tinely done  to  death  by  ignoble 
hands  and  ignoble  means,  her 
husband's  brother  assassinated  in 
the  streets,  her  family  pensioned 
exiles  and  outcasts,  and  now  a 
third  time  driven  from  the  throne 
of  France  with  ignominy.  With 
her  poor  woman's  wit,  of  which 
her  uncle  and  husband  seem  to 
have  thought  so  meanly,  Cassan- 
dra like,  she  foresaw  the  effect  of 
the  infatuated  measures  they  had 
in  train,  but  vainly  uttered  her 
oracles  of  warning  and  menace  to 
deter  them  from  rushing  upon  de- 
struction. With  a  frame  macera- 
ted by  religious  severities,  and 
views  fixed  upon  a  happier  future, 


it  is  for  her  family  more  than  for 
herself,  that  she  laments  the  re- 
verses, which  have  befallen  her 
House. 

The  Duchesse  de  Berri  pos- 
sesses a  temper  naturally  gay, 
light  and  amiable,  designed,  in 
short,  for  enjoyment  and  popu- 
larity, —  and  which,  notwithstand- 
ing the  untimely  death  of  her 
husband,  and  the  change  in  her 
prospects  which  that  event  occa- 
sioned, would  have  assured  her 
the  possession  of  comparative  hap- 
piness as  mother  of  the  young 
heir  to  France.  Her  hopes  are 
once  more  dashed  to  the  ground, 
by  a  series  of  desperate  measures, 
against  which  she,  as  well  as  the 
Dauphiness,  protested.  Being  a 
daughter  of  the  late  King  of  the 
Two  Sicilies,  of  whom  the  pres- 
ent Queen  of  France  is  a  sister,  she 
is  doomed  to  see  her  aunt  occupy 
the  throne,  which  in  better  times 
she  looked  forward  to  as  proba- 
bly to  become  one  day  her  own. 
She  also  is  rendered  an  exile  by 
no  fault  of  hers  ;  and  considering 
the  advanced  age  of  Charles  and 
the  Dauphin,  their  misfortune  af- 
fects her  and  her  son  more  seri- 
ously than  it  does  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  family.  That  son,  the 
last  remaining  scion  of  his  race, — 
for  the  posterity  of  Philip  V.  are 
aliens  to  France  by  the  most  sa- 
cred oaths  and  treaties,  —  leaves 
the  land  of  his  fathers  to  become 
the  centre  and  watchword  of  po- 
litical intrigues,  and  to  renew  in 
his  own  person,  perhaps,  the  ro- 
mantic fortunes  of  Charles  Ed- 
ward of  England. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 


FRANCE,  CONCLUDED. 


Proceedings  of  the  Chambers. 
leans  King.  — -  Settlement  of  the 

We  arrive,  at  length,  at  the 
catastrophe  of  the  Revolution,  at 
the  fifth  act  of  the  political  dra- 
ma, which  opened  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  M.  de  Polignac  to 
office  for  the  purpose  of  over- 
throwing the  Charter,  and  termi- 
nates with  the  elevation  of  the 
Due  d'Orleans  to  the  throne. 
This  was  a  result  for  which  all 
Paris  was  now  prepared,  and  less 
doubt  was  entertained  as  to  the 
result  itself,  than  as  to  the  best 
means  of  reaching  it.  The  re- 
publicans continued  to  dispute  the 
authority  of  the  Chambers  to  re- 
organize the  institutions,  which 
the  victory  of  the  Three  Days 
l;ad  laid  prostrate.  They  main- 
tained that  the  Charter  had  en- 
tirely lost  its  vitality ;  that  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  elected  un- 
der it,  ceased  on  the  30th  of  July 
to  be  a  constitutional  element  of  the 
State  ;  that  of  course  it  had  no 
right  to  proceed  in  the  perform- 
ance of  ordinary  business,  and 
still  less  any  right  to  remodel  the 
Charter  itself  and  that,  when  it 
assembled,  it  should  do  nothing 
more  than  simply  to  provide  con- 


The  new  Charter.  —  Due  Or- 
Government.  —  Conclusion. 

venient  and  regular  means  of  as- 
certaining the  will  of  the  People 
on  the  great  question,  which  now 
came  up  for  decision.  Whatever 
objections  had  existed  to  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  Lieutenant  General 
in  place  of  the  provisional  Com- 
mission of  Government,  applied 
with  added  authority  to  finally 
and  permanently  settling  the  pub- 
lic affairs  through  the  agency  of 
the  Chambers  alone.  Particular 
difficulties  presented  themselves 
in  great  force.  How  could  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  dispose  of 
the  Chamber  of  Peers,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  the  public  voice  de- 
clared to  be  contrary  to  the  wish- 
es of  regenerated  France  ?  It 
seemed  to  the  numerous  party, 
who  maintained  these  opinions,  a 
fit  occasion  for  proclaiming  a  re- 
turn to  the  true  republican  princi- 
ple, the  sovereignty  of  the  People, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  Gov- 
ernment by  their  immediate  in- 
tervention. 

This  end  might  be  accomplish- 
ed by  an  act  of  the  Chamber  re- 
viving the  Constitution  of  1815, 
which  they  contended  was  pref- 


FRANCE, 


381 


erable  to  the  Charter  of  Louis 
XVIII. ;  and  in  that  case  the 
question  whether  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans  should  be  Emperor  could 
be  submitted  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
Nation.  Or  the  Chamber  might 
provide  for  the  convocation  of  a 
Constituent  Assembly,  a  Conven- 
tion of  the  whole  Kingdom,  for 
the  purpose  of  enacting  a  new 
fundamental  law  in  place  of  tlie 
Charter.  But  the  considerations 
hinted  at  in  the  last  chapter, 
which  induced  the  liberal  party  to 
accede  to  the  bestowment  of  pow- 
er on  the  Due  d'Orleans,  prevail- 
ed on  the  majority  of  those  men 
of  influence,  who  possessed  the 
means  of  directing  public  affairs, 
Co  determine  that  the  present 
Chamber  should  proceed  to  the 
complete  settlement  of  the  Gov- 
ernment upon  a  stable  basis.  The 
same  considerations  led  the 
Chamber,  when  it  had  once  re- 
solved upon  settling  the  Govern- 
ment, to  proceed  with  a  degree 
of  precipitancy,  which  left  no 
room  for  the  operation  of  adverse 
schemes,  and  hardly  afforded 
time  for  due  reflection  and  delib- 
eration on  the  part  of  the  Depu- 
ties themselves.  In  doing  so, 
they  avoided,  perhaps,  present 
disorders,  but  sowed  the  seeds 
of  future  contentions  at  least,  if 
not  revolutions. 

The  opening  of  the  Chambers 
was  celebrated  at  the  stated  time 
and  in  the  usual  place,  with  all 
the  forms  of  a  royal  sitting,  so  far 
as  they  were  applicable  to  the 
new  state  of  things.  It  was  justly 
regarded  by  all  parties  as  a  crisis 
of  pecuHar  difficulty  and  impor- 
tance. About  half  the  Deputies 
elect  assembled,  including  some 
33 


few  members  of  the  Right,  who, 
knowing  that  their  persons  were 
perfectly  safe,  had  independence 
and  patriotism  enough  to  take  part 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  Cham- 
ber. A  portion  of  the  Peers  also 
attended.  In  obedience  to  the 
republican  spirit  of  the  times,  the 
Deputies  appeared  in  the  ordinary 
dress  of  citizens,  instead  of  the  of- 
ficial costume,  which  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  wear  before 
the  Three  Days.  In  conse- 
quence, also,  of  a  positive  regula- 
tion, the  Peers  and  Deputies  were 
treated  with  equal  respect. 

The  Due  d'Orleans,  as  Lieu- 
tenant General  of  the  Kingdom, 
opened  the  sitting  with  a  speech 
fully  in  accordance  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution.    It  was 
a  plain,  direct,    manly  address, 
worthy  of  the  speaker  and  the 
occasion.    He  spoke  of  the  strug- 
gle of  the  Three  Days,  of  the  he- 
roism of  the  people  of  Paris,  of 
the  consequent  dissolution  of  the 
pre-existing  social  system,  and  of 
the  necessities  of  public  order, 
which  had  placed  him  in  authori- 
ty.   He  alluded  to  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  royal  family  with  deli- 
cacy and  propriety.    While  hold- 
ing up  to  the  rest  of  Europe  a  desire 
of  peace  as  well  as  liberty,  as  the 
animating  spirit   of  France,  he 
gave  assurance   that  respect  for 
the  rights  of  all,  and  consequent 
public  stability,  would  enable  the 
new  Government  to  maintain  itself 
unharmed  under  all  the  hazards 
of  a  forcible  change  of  dynasty. 
That  portion  of  it,  which  spoke  of 
his  own  personal  views  and  feel- 
ings, was  peculiarly  judicious  and 
satisfactory.  *  I  hastened,'  he  says, 
'  to  the  midst  of  this  valiant  People, 


382 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


followed  by  my  family,  and  wear- 
ing those  colors,  which,  for  the  sec- 
ond time,  have  marked  among  us 
the  triumph  of  liberty.  I  have 
come,  firmly  resolved  to  devote 
myself  to  all  that  circumstances 
should  require  of  me  in  the  situa- 
tion wherein  they  have  placed  me, 
to  establish  the  empire  of  the  laws, 
to  save  liberty  which  was  threaten- 
ed, and  to  render  impossible  the 
return  of  evils  so  great,  by  secur- 
ing forever  the  power  of  the  Char- 
ter, whose  name,  invoked  during 
the  combat,  was  also  appealed  to 
after  the  victory.  In  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  noble  task  it  is 
for  the  Chambers  to  guide  me. 
All  rights  must  be  solemnly  guar- 
antied, all  the  institutions  necessa- 
ry to  their  full  and  free  exercise 
must  receive  the  development  of 
which  thay  have  need.  Attached 
hy  inclination  and  conviction  to 
the  principles  of  a  free  govern- 
ment, I  accept  beforehand  all  the 
consequences  of  it.''  These  profes- 
sions of  cordial  participation  in  the 
feelings  of  the  People,  whether 
wholly  sincere  or  not,  were  such 
as  the  occasion  demanded,  and 
served  to  augment  the  popularity 
of  the  Lieutenant  General. 

He  concluded  by  annotmcing 
the  abdication  of  Charles  and  the 
renunciation  of  the  Dauphin, 
which  he  had  received  late  the 
night  before  from  Rambouillet. 
He  did  not  state  that  any  reserva- 
tive  had  been  made  in  favor  of 
the  Due  de  Bordeaux  ;  nor  was  it 
necessary ;  for  the  abdication  it- 
self was  a  mere  deference  to  ne- 
cessity, which  the  condition  an- 
nexed to  it  neither  strengthened 
nor  diminished.  Indeed  it  would 
have  been  quite  as  consonant  to 


the  wishes  of  the  victorious  party, 
if  they  had  been  left  to  declare 
the  throne  forfeited  for  high 
crimes,  without  being  anticipated 
in  regard  to  it  by  the  King. 

Nothing  was  done  at  this  sit- 
ting ;  but  the  next  day  the  Cham- 
bers met,  and  M.  Labbey  de 
Pompieres  having  taken  the  chair 
as  senior  member,  they  proceed- 
ed to  verify  the  credentials  of 
the  several  Deputies  present,  and 
as  usual  chose  five  persons  to  be 
presented  to  the  Lieutenant  Gen- 
eral, out  of  whom  he,  as  succes- 
sor to  the  rights  of  the  King, 
should  select  for  them  a  President. 
They  were  MM.  Casimir  Perrier, 
Jacques  Lafitte,  Benjamin  Deles- 
sert,  Dupin,  and  Royer  Collard  ; 
and  the  selection  fell  upon  M. 
Casimir  Perrier.  Baron  Pas- 
quier  was  appointed  President  of 
the  Chamber  of  Peers.  Other 
business  of  form  occupied  the 
Chambers  until  the  fourth  day  of 
the  session,  August  6th,  when  the 
important  proceedings  for  amend- 
ing the  Charter  and  transferring 
the  Crown  were  commenced,  and 
continued  during  the  succeeding 
day,  on  which  these  important 
changes  were  finally  completed, 
and  the  Due  d'Orleans  became 
King  of  the  French. 

The  proposition  for  these  mod- 
ifications of  the  Government  was 
made  by  M.  Berard,  a  Deputy 
very  generally  respected,  who 
had  efficiently  forwarded  the  re- 
cent movements.  It  consisted  of 
a  series  of  Resolutions,  first,  de- 
claring the  throne  of  France 
vacant  by  reason  of  the  events  of 
July  ;  secondly,  proposing  certain 
suppressions,  alterations  and  ad- 
ditions in  the  text  of  the  Charter  ; 


FRANCE. 


383 


thirdly,  stipulating  that  certain 
laws  shall  be  enacted  with  the 
least  possible  delay ;  and  lastly, 
setting  forth  that  on  condition  of 
his  accepting  these  conditions  and 
propositions,  '  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  declares  that  the  uni- 
versal and  urgent  interest  of  the 
French  nation  calls  to  the  throne 
His  Royal  Highness  Louis  Philip- 
pe d'Orleans,  Due  d'Orleans, 
Lieut.  General  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  his  descendants  forever  in  the 
male  line  by  order  of  primogeni- 
ture, with  the  perpetual  exclusion 
of  females  and  their  descendants,' 
by  the  title  of  King  of  the  French. 
As,  next  to  the  change  of  dynasty, 
these  conditions  and  propositions, 
or  guarantees  as  they  are  often 
called,  comprise  the  constitu- 
tional advantages  secured  by  the 
Revolution,  they  will  justify  a 
particular  examination. 

The  discussion  of  the  Resolu- 
tions was  perfectly  free,  insomuch 
that  several  royalist  Deputies  very 
firmly  and  fully  expressed  their 
attachment  to  the  family  of 
Charles  X.,  although  none  of 
them  went  so  far  as  to  defend  the 
Ordinances,  and  several  of  them 
spoke  with  sorrow  and  indignation 
of  the  pernicious  councils,  by 
which  the  King  had  been  misled. 
Nothing  is  more  singular,  how- 
ever, in  the  proceedings  of  these 
two  days,  than  the  extreme 
brevity  of  the  debates,  the  ab- 
sence of  any  elaborate  speeches 
for  effect,  and  the  business  like 
manner  in  which  the  proposed 
measures  were  discussed  and  set- 
tled. MM.  Berard,  Villemain, 
Dupin,  Eusebe  Salverte,  Mau- 
guin,  La  Fayette,  Hyde  de  Neu- 
ville,  de  Martignac,  and  de  Conny 


were  the  prominent  speakers  in 
the  debate,  in  which  also  MM. 
Benjamin  Constant,  Alexandre 
de  Laborde,  Demar^ay,  Augus- 
tin  Perrier,  and  de  Brigode,  - 
among  others,  took  more  or  less 
part.  In  regard  to  the  form  of 
the  debate,  we  need  only  say  that, 
except  some  conversation  as  to 
an  address  in  reply  to  the  speech 
of  the  Lieutenant  General,  which 
ended  in  a  decision  that  the  pro- 
position of  M.  Berard  should  take 
the  place  of  an  address,  —  ex- 
cepting this,  the  debate  turned 
upon  the  merits  of  the  questions 
presented  in  the  several  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  speech  of  M.  Berard, 
which  introduced  the  whole  sub- 
ject to  the  consideration  of  the 
Chamber,  was  the  only  general 
statement  of  the  views  of  the 
Orleans  party  ;  and  for  that  rea- 
son more  than  for  its  intrinsic 
merits,  we  introduce  it  in  this 
place. 

M.  Berard  said:  'A  solemn 
compact  united  the  French  Peo- 
ple with  their  Monarch.  This 
compact  has  been  broken  ;  and 
the  violator  of  it  has  no  title  now 
to  insist  on  its  execution.  Charles 
X.  and  his  son  in  vain  pretend  to 
transmit  a  power,  which  they  no 
longer  possess.  Their  power  is 
extinguished  in  the  blood  of  thou- 
sands of  victims.  The  act  of 
abdication,  which  has  been  laid 
before  you,  is  only  a  fresh  in- 
stance of  perfidy.  The  appear- 
ance of  legality  which  it  wears  is 
a  mere  deception.  It  is  a  brand 
of  discord  thrown  among  us. 

'The  real  enemies  of  our  coun- 
try, those  who  by  flattering  urged 
the  fallen  Government  on  to  ruin, 


384 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


are  busy  on  all  sides  ;  they  as- 
sume all  colors,  they  proclaim  all 
opinions.  If  a  vague  desire  of 
liberty  seizes  on  some  generous 
minds,  our  enemies  hasten  to  take 
advantage  of  a  sentiment,  which 
they  are  incapable  of  understand- 
ing ;  and  ultra-royalists  present 
themselves  in  the  guise  of  rigid 
republicans.  Others  affect  a 
hypocritical  attachment  for  the 
forgotten  son  of  the  conqueror  of 
Europe,  which  would  change  into 
hate,  if  there  could  be  any  serious 
question  of  making  him  Chief  of 
France. 

'  The  instability,  inseparable 
from  the  existing  forms  of  Gov- 
ernment, encourages  the  promo- 
ters of  discord.  Let  us  disarm 
them  by  putting  an  end  to  it.  A 
supreme  law,  that  of  necessity, 
has  placed  weapons  in  the  hands 
of  the  Parisians,  to  repel  oppres- 
sion. This  law  has  caused  us  to 
adopt  as  a  provisionary  Chief,  and 
as  the  only  means  of  safety,  a 
Prince,  who  is  the  sincere  friend 
of  constitutional  institutions.  The 
same  law  would  lead  us  to  adopt, 
without  delay  a  definitive  head  for 
the  State. 

'  But  whatever  confidence  this 
Prince  inspires,  the  rights  which 
we  are  called  upon  to  defend, 
oblige  us  to  establish  the  condi- 
tions, under  which  he  shall  re- 
ceive his  power.  Odiously  de- 
ceived on  several  occasions,  it  will 
be  permitted  us  to  stipulate  the 
strictest  guarantees.  Our  institu- 
tions are  incomplete,  vitiated  even 
in  certain  points  of  view  ;  it  is 
necessary  to  extend  and  reform 
them.  The  Prince,  who  is  at  our 
head,  is  already  aware  of  our  just 
wants.    The  principles  of  several 


fundamental  laws  have  been  re- 
cognised by  him  already ;  and 
other  principles,  other  laws,  are 
not  less  indispensable,  and  will 
also  be  secured. 

'  We  are  the  elected  delegates 
of  the  People.  They  have  con- 
fided to  us  the  defence  of  their 
rights,  the  expression  of  their 
wants.  Their  first  wants,  their 
dearest  interests,  are  liberty  and 
repose.  They  have  conquered 
their  liberty  ;  it  is  for  us  to  secure 
their  repose;  and  we  cannot  do 
so  except  by  giving  them  a  stable 
and  just  Government.  It  is  idle 
to  pretend  that  in  doing  so,  we 
exceed  our  powers.  I  could  re- 
fute this  objection,  if  there  was 
sufficient  occasion,  by  invoking 
the  law  to  which  I  have  already 
referred,  that  of  imperious,  invin- 
cible necessity. 

'  In  this  state  of  things,  taking 
into  consideration  the  grave  and 
pressing  situation  in  which  the 
country  is  placed,  the  indispensa- 
ble necessity  of  changing  this 
precarious  posture  for  a  safer  one, 
and  the  universal  wish  manifested 
by  France  to  obtain  the  comple- 
tion of  her  institutions,  I  have  the 
honor  to  propose  the  following 
Resolutions.' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Resolutions  had  been  fully  con- 
certed and  arranged  out  of  the 
Chamber,  before  they  were  pro- 
posed in  it.  If  this  did  not  ap- 
pear from  the  nature  of  the  pro- 
positions themselves,  it  >^'ould 
from  the  slight  discussion  and 
aheration  they  received  in  passing 
through  the  Chamber  to  become 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 
Indeed  there  is  little  to  be  select- 
ed from  the  debates  of  these  two 


FRANCE. 


385 


days,  which  accords  with  the  all 
important  nature  of  the  subjects  in 
agitation.  Except  a  feeling  pro- 
testation on  the  part  of  M.  de 
Martignac,  against  the  application 
of  the  word  ferocity  to  the  con- 
duct of  Charles,  the  most  remark- 
able speeches  in  opposition  to  the 
Resolutions  were  those  of  M.  de 
Conny  and  of  M.  Hyde  de  Neu- 
ville.  M.  de  Conny  argued  at 
some  length  the  claims  of  the 
Due  de  Bordeaux  in  the  follow- 
ing manner  : 

'  In  the  terrible  circumstances 
in  which  we  are  placed,  freedom 
of  debate  is  more  than  ever  a  sa- 
cred law.  I  came  forward  at  the 
voice  of  my  conscience ;  silence 
would  be  cowardice.  Social  or- 
der is  shaken  to  its  foundations. 
These  tumultuous  commotions, 
which  suddenly  suspend  the  ac- 
tion of  the  legitimate  powers  insti- 
tuted to  maintain  order  in  society, 
are  epochs  of  calamity,  which 
exercise  the  most  fatal  influence 
upon  the  destiny  of  nations.  In- 
exorable history,  rising  above 
contemporary  passions,  will  im- 
press upon  these  lamentable  days 
the  character  which  belongs  to 
them,  and  the  cry  of  human  con- 
science is  raised  to  consecrate 
this  eternal  truth,  that  force  con- 
stitutes no  right. 

*  In  these  times  of  trouble,  lib- 
erty is  invoked,  but  the  expression 
of  thought  has  ceased  to  be  free. 
Liberty  is  stifled  by  the  sanguina- 
ry cries,  which  carry  alarm  in 
every  direction.  Suffer  not  your- 
selves to  be  subjugated  by  the 
cries  which  resound  about  you. 
Statesmen,  remain  calm  in  the 
midst  of  perils,  and  when  confus- 
ed voices  call  to  France  the  son 
33* 


of  Napoleon,  invoke  the  Repub- 
lic, and  proclaim  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans,  —  unshaken  in  your  duties, 
remember  your  oaths,  and  ac- 
knowledge the  sacred  rights  of 
the  royal  infant,  whom,  after  so 
many  misfortunes  Providence  has 
given  to  France.  Think  of  the 
judgment  of  posterity  :  —  it  would 
be  terrible.  You  would  not  wish 
that  history  should  say  you  were 
faithless  to  your  oaths.  The  eyes 
of  Europe  are  upon  us.  We 
have  too  long  exhibited  to  her  a 
spectacle  of  strange  instability ; 
too  long  have  we  changed  sides, 
as  often  as  victory  has  changed 
colors.  Brought  back  to  truth  by 
misfortune,  let  us  remain  calm  in 
the  midst  of  so  many  turbulent 
passions,  and  let  us  bestow  our 
respect  and  tears  upon  great  and 
royal  disasters. 

*  By  continuing  faithful  to  our 
duties,  I  wish  to  spare  our  coun- 
try all  the  calamities  and  crimes 
consequent  on  usurpations.  View- 
ing with  an  anxious  mind  the 
destiny  of  France,  I  perceive 
the  twofold  scourge  of  civil  and 
foreign  war  threatening  our  noble 
country,  I  perceive  liberty  disap- 
pearing forever,! perceive  French 
blood  flowing,  and  this  blood 
would  recoil  upon  our  heads. 
Deference  to  the  principle  of  !  — 
gitimacy,  that  principle  establish- 
ed by  the  Charter,  can  alone  pre- 
serve our  country  from  this  fear- 
ful destiny.  All  France  is  bound 
by  oaths.  The  army,  ever 
faithful,  will  bend  their  arms  be- 
fore the  young  King.  I  call  to 
witness  our  national  honor.  Let 
us  not  exhibit  to  the  world  the 
scandal  of  perjury.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  the  sacred  rights  of  the 


386 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Due  de  Bordeaux,  the  act  which 
should  raise  the  Due  d'Orleans 
to  the  throne,  would  be  a  viola- 
tion of  all  hunaan  laws. 

'  As  a  Deputy,  remeoibering 
my  oaths  before  God,  who  will 
judge  us,  I  have  truly  spoken  my 
belief.  I  should  have  forfeited 
the  esteem  of  my  adversaries,  if, 
in  the  perils  which  surround  us,  I 
had  remained  silent.  I  declare 
the  sentiments  which  animate  me 
in  the  face  of  Heaven  :  I  would 
express  them  at  the  cannon's 
mouth.  If  the  principle  of  legiti- 
macy be  not  recognised  by  the 
Charter,  I  must  say  that  1  see  not 
what  right  I  have  to  participate  in 
these  deliberations.' 

After  M.  Benjamin  Constant 
had  made  some  remarks  in  reply 
to  M.  de  Conny,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  remarked  that  legitima- 
cy, in  its  ordinary  sense  could  no 
longer  be  invoked  ;  and  that  the 
only  legitimacy,  which  France 
now  admitted,  was  derived  from 
the  People  and  the  laws,  —  M. 
Hyde  de  Neuville  said  :  — 

'  I  judge  no  man.  In  politics, 
as  in  religion,  all  consciences  are 
not  subject  to  the  same  influen- 
ces. Men  seeking  what  is  good 
may  follow  different  paths.  Each 
of  us  obeys  his  own  conscience, 
mine  is  my  only  guide.  If  you 
do  not  partake  of  my  sentiments, 
you  will  not  refuse  me  your 
esteem.  I  have  done  everything 
which  a  Frenchman  could  do,  to 
prevent  the  calamities,  which  we 
have  experienced,  t  have  been 
faithful  to  my  oaths.  I  did  not 
betray  that  family,  which  false 
friends  have  precipitated  into  an 
abyss.  I  should  contradict  my 
life,  and  dishonor  myself  by  chang- 


ing my  sentiments,  were  I  to  as- 
sent to  these  Resolutions.  With 
my  hand  upon  my  heart,  I  cannot 
but  reject  the  dangerous  sove- 
reignty, which  the  Committee 
proposes  to  establish.  The  meas- 
ure which  you  contemplate,  is  of 
the  deepest  import,  and  ought  to 
be  weighed  and  examined  with 
more  of  deliberation,  than  it  seems 
about  to  receive.  It  is  dangerous 
to  rest  the  future  destinies  of  a 
great  People  upon  the  impres- 
sions of  a  moment.  But  I  have 
not  received  from  Heaven  the 
power  to  arrest  the  thunderbolt. 
To  the  acts,  which  it  is  proposed 
to  consummate,  I  can  but  oppose 
my  wishes,  in  offering  up  the  sin- 
cerest  prayers  for  the  repose  and 
liberty  of  my  country.' 

Nothing.^however,  which  could 
be  said  by  the  friends  of  the  fallen 
dynasty,  was  capable  of  having 
any  influence  on  such  an  occa- 
sion, and  only  served  the  purpose 
of  a  personal  protest  on  the  part 
of  the  speaker.  But  the  peculiar 
position  of  La  Fayette,  as  the  pro- 
fessor of  republican  opinions  and 
the  most  trusted  individual  of  the 
Republican  party,  gave  more  than 
ordinary  moment  to  the  short 
speech  in  which  he  expressed  his 
assent  to  the  Resolutions.  It  was 
substantially  as  follows  : 

'  On  ascending  this  tribune  to 
pronounce  an  opinion  contested 
by  many  friends  of  liberty,  I  do 
not  yield  to  any  enthusiasm  of 
the  moment,  nor  am  I  seeking  a 
popularity,  which  I  shall  never 
prefer  to  the  discharge  of  my 
duties.  The  republican  senti- 
ments which  I  have  manifested  in 
all  times,  and  before  all  powers, 
are  well  known ;  but  these  senti- 


FRANCE.  387 

ments  do  not  prevent  my  being  ishing  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 

the  defender  of  a  constitutional  were  affected  by  some  unaccoun- 

throne,  raised  by  the  will  of  the  table  scruples  as  to  the  violation 

Nation.  of   rights  nowise    more  sacred 

'  The  same  sentiments  animate  than  those  of  the  peerage  and  the 

me  at  the  present  crisis,  when  it  royal  family.    In  fact,  very  few 

has  been  judged  fitting  to  elevate  material  alterations  were  made  in 

to  the  constitutional  throne  the  the  Resolutions,  as  reported  by 

Prince  Lieutenant  General.   And  the  Commission  to  which  they 

I  am  bound  to  avow  that  the  were  referred  ;   and  of  these  the 

choice   coincides  with  my  own  most  curious  was  on  motion  of 

desires  the  more,  in  proportion  as  M.  Dupin,  in  the  following  words  : 

I  know  him  better.  '  France    resumes   her  colors. 

*  But  I  shall  differ  from  many  For  the  future  no  cockade  shall 
of  my  fellow  citizens  on  the  ques-  be  worn  but  the  tricolored.'  This 
tion  of  hereditary  peerage.  I  amendment  was  adopted  by  ac- 
have  always  thought  it  necessary  clamation.  It  seems  at  first  sight 
that  legislative  bodies  should  be  an  exceedingly  frivolous  and  rather 
divided  into  two  Chambers  dif-  puerile  matter  to  occupy  the  atten- 
ferently  constituted;  but  never  tion  of  the  Chamber  at  such  a 
that  it  was  useful  to  have  hered-  time,  and  to  be  made  an  article  of 
itary  legislators  and  judges.  —  the  new  constitutional  law.  But 
Aristocracy  is  a  bad  ingredient  to  we  suppose  it  was  intended  as  a 
be  introduced  into  popular  insti-  propitiatory  offering  to  the  popu- 
tutions.  It  is,  therefore,  with  lar  sentiment,  being  equivalent  to 
great  satisfaction  that  I  find  you  a  provision  that  the  passions,  pur- 
engaged  in  a  measure  conforma-  poses,  doctrines,  and  principles  of 
ble  to  sentiments  which  I  have  the  first  Revolution  were  adopted 
all  my  life  declared,  and  which  I  as  the  inheritance  of  the  second, 
can  now  only  repeat.  On  Saturday,  August  7th,  the 

*  While  my  conscience  forces  Resolutions  as  amended  were 
me  to  reiterate  this  opinion,  my  adopted  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
fellow  citizens  will  do  me  the  jus-  ties  by  a  vote  of  219  to  33,  the 
tice  to  acknowledge  that  if  I  affirmative  votes  being  just  four 
have  always  been  the  supporter  more  than  one  half  the  entire 
of  liberty,  I  have  never  ceased  legal  number  of  Deputies.  The 
to  be  the  supporter  of  public  question  was  taken  at  five  o'clock 
order.'  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  Depu- 
ties immediately  went  on  foot  in 

An  earnest  attempt  was  made  procession  to  the  Palais  Royal, 

by  M.  Mauguin  to  provide  for  a  escorted  by  the  National  Guards, 

purification  of  the  magistracy  by  to  offer  their  Bill  of  Rights  and 

some  article  in  the  conditions  of  the  Crown  to  the  Due  d'Orleans. 

the  contemplated  Sovereignty,  but  M.  Lafitte,  the  President  of  the 

without  success.     Men  who  felt  Chamber,  read  aloud  the  condi- 

no  hesitation  about  changing  the  tions  on  which  the  Sovereignty 

dynasty  and  decimating  or  abol-  was  proffered  to  him,  and  he  ac- 


388 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


cepted  it  on  those  conditions, 
pledging  hinnself  solemnly  to  the 
performance  of  the  engagements 
imposed.  Everything  passed 
with  the  utmost  apparent  cor- 
diality and  sincerity  on  both  sides. 

Meanwhile  the  Chamber  of 
Peers,  which  had  been  very  little 
considered  in  all  these  proceed- 
ings, assembled  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  after  the  proffer  of 
the  Crown  to  the  Due  d'Orleans 
and  the  acceptance  of  it  by  him, 
to  discuss  and  act  upon  the  Reso- 
lutions which  had  been  sent  up 
from  the  Deputies.  An  elaborate 
speech  was  made  by  M.  de 
Chateaubriand,  which  seems  to 
have  comprised  nearly  all  the 
discussion  of  the  meeting,  warmly 
maintaining  the  pretensions  of  the 
Due  de  Bordeaux.  The  Peers 
professed  a  feeling  of  delicacy  in 
regard  to  an  article  of  the  Reso- 
lutions, which  unpeered  a  portion 
of  their  House,  and  abstained  from 
acting  upon  that,  but  adopted  all 
the  rest  of  the  articles,  by  a  vote 
of  eighty  to  ten,  and  at  half  past 
ten  o'clock  repaired  to  the  Palais 
Royal  in  imitation  of  the  Depu- 
ties to  signify  their  assent  to  the 
new  constitutional  act,  —  thus 
completing  the  formal  transfer  of 
the  Crown. 

The  Declaration  of  Rights  thus 
sanctioned  by  the  future  King, 
comprises  amendments  of  the 
Charter  of  Louis  XVIII.,  partly 
in  respect  of  articles  that  were  of 
a  temporary  nature,  and  partly  in 
respect  of  general  principles.  In 
effect,  it  leaves  the  substance  of 
the  Charter  as  it  stood,  only 
making  alterations  in  some  of  its 
provisions.  The  Deputies  sup- 
pressed the  preamble  of  the  Char- 


ter of  Louis  XVIII.,  as  recognis- 
ing the  principle  of  octroi  or  roy- 
al grant,  and  as  therefore  incon- 
sistent with  the  theory  of  national 
sovereignty,  which  ought  to  be 
the  basis  of  a  constitutional  Char- 
ter. In  place  of  this  preamble  a 
new  one  was  substituted,  which 
declared  the  throne  to  be  vacant 
in  fact  and  by  right.  The  seve- 
ral changes  in  the  body  of  the 
Charter  concerned, 

1.  The  Public  Law  of  the 
French,  as  it  is  termed,  being  that 
part  of  the  Charter,  which  in  our 
constitutions  is  called  the  Decla- 
ration of  Rights.  The  old  Char- 
ter, while  it  secured  the  mainten- 
ance and  protection  of  all  de- 
nominations of  Christianity,  en- 
tided  the  Catholic  the  religion  of 
the  State  :  the  new  one  makes 
no  such  distinction  in  favor  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  simply  desig- 
nating it  as  the  religion  professed 
by  the  majority  of  the  French. 
It  also  assures  the  freedom  of  the 
Press  by  providing  that  the  cen- 
sorship shall  never  be  re-estab- 
lished. These  two  changes  are 
of  course  decidedly  in  favor  of 
liberty,  the  second  evidently  so, 
and  the  first  not  less  so,  as  it 
places  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
persuasions  on  a  level.  That  is 
untrue,  however,  which  some  of 
the  books  on  the  Revolution  as- 
sert, namely,  that  every  system 
of  faith,  whether  Christian  or  not, 
now  stands  on  the  same  footing 
in  France.  The  ministers  of  the 
Catholic  '  and  other  Christian 
confessions'  are  by  the  Charter 
to  receive  pay  from  the  public 
treasury,  and  of  course  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  without  distinction 
of  sect,  is  the  religion  of  the  State. 


FRANCE. 


389 


2.  The  King^s  Government. 
The  new  Charter  omits  the 
words  of  the  14th  article,  which 
Polignac  alleged  as  justifying  the 
Ordinances,  and  expressly  de- 
clares that  the  King  shall  never 
suspend  the  laws  or  dispense  with 
their  execution.  It  also  takes 
away  the  exclusive  right  of  the 
King  to  propose  laws,  and  com- 
iTiunicates  the  initiative  to  each  of 
the  Chambers  in  common  with  the 
King  ;  thus  materially  abridging 
the  royal  authority. 

3.  The  Chambers,  The  sit- 
tings of  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 
which  previously  had  been  pri- 
vate, are  made  public.  Deputies 
are  eligible  at  the  age  of  thirty, 
instead  of  forty,  as  in  the  old 
Charter ;  and  persons  otherwise 
qualified  become  electors  at  the 
age  of  twentyfive  instead  of  thir- 
ty ;  while  the  pecuniary  qualifica- 
tion of  both  Deputies  and  elec- 
tors, instead  of  being  prescribed 
in  the  Charter,  is  left  to  be  set- 
tled by  a  law.  The  Chamber 
elects  its  own  President,  instead 
of  submitting  a  list  of  five  can- 
didates to  the  King.  It  is  ex- 
pressly provided  that  no  tax  can 
be  established  nor  imposed,  if  it 
has  not  been  consented  to  by  the 
two  Chambers  and  sanctioned  by 
the  King. 

4.  Particular  Rights.  Two 
new  articles  are  introduced  here, 
one  of  which  seems  to  be  a  mere 
flourish  of  rhetoric,  and  the  other 
unworthy  the  dignity  of  the  in- 
strument. Of  the  latter,  which 
regulates  the  color  of  the  cockade, 
we  have  already  spoken.  The 
former  is  in  these  words  :  '  The 
present  Charter,  and  the  rights 
it  consecrates,  shall  be  intrusted 


to  the  patriotism  and  courage  of 
the  National  Guard  and  all  the 
citizens.'  It  is  impossible  to  see 
any  practical  bearing  which  this 
article  has,  unless  it  is  intended  as 
an  indirect  mode  of  inserting  a 
recognition  of  the  National  Guard. 
If  so,  why  not  do  it  plainly  and 
directly  ? 

5.  Special  Provisions.  These 
consist  of  an  article  annulling  all 
creations  of  Peers  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  X.  and  provid- 
ing that  the  whole  subject  of  the 
peerage  shall  undergo  revision. 
Whether  hereditary  peerage  is 
consonant  with  the  institutions 
and  congenial  to  the  spirit  of  the 
French,  we  do  not  stop  now  to 
inquire ;  but  supposing  that  the 
institution  itself  is  to  stand,  we  do 
not  see  what  justice  or  reason 
there  is  in  disqualifying  the  nine- 
tythree  Peers  created  by  Charles 
X.  Their  creation  was  just  as 
lawful  as  that  of  any  of  their  fel- 
lows, being  by  a  similar  exercise 
of  royal  authority  under  the  Char- 
ter. Every  consideration  of  their 
personal  devotedness  to  Charles, 
of  the  want  of  fairness  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  exaltation, 
and  of  the  injurious  influence 
they  might  exert  in  the  new  order 
of  things,  applies  with  equal  force 
to  a  great  number  of  judicial 
functionaries,  whom  the  Deputies 
left  untouched.  But  in  truth 
very  little  respect  was  paid  in  any 
part  of  these  proceedings  to  the 
Peers,  who  seem  to  have  been 
slighted  purposely  in  many  par- 
ticulars, and  who  were  certainly 
injured  as  a  body  by  this  indi- 
vidual act ;  for  if  the  Deputies 
had  power  to  degrade  ninety- 
three  of  the  Peers,  they  had 


390 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


power  to  abolish  the  whole  Cham- 
ber. 

The  remaining  article  under 
this  head,  and  the  last  we  have  to 
mention,  consists  of  nine  promises 
of  laws,  to  be  enacted  with  the 
shortest  possible  delay.  These 
are  the  extension  of  the  trial  by- 
jury  to  offences  of  the  Press,  and 
political  offences ;  the  responsibil- 
ity of  Ministers  and  the  secondary 
agents  of  Government;  the  re- 
election of  Deputies  appointed  to 
public  functions  with  salaries ;  the 
annual  voting  of  the  army  esti- 
mates ;  the  organization  of  the 
National  Guards,  with  the  inter- 
vention of  the  National  Guards  in 
the  choice  of  their  officers ; "  pro- 
visions to  insure  in  a  legal  manner 
the  state  of  officers  of  every  grade 
by  land  and  sea;  departmental 
^  and  municipal  institutions  found- 
ed upon  an  elective  system  ;  pub- 
lic instruction  and  the  freedom  of 
education ;  the  abolition  of  the 
double  vote,  and  the  settling  of 
the  qualifications  of  electors  and 
of  eligibility. 

All  these  modifications  of  the 
Charter  augmented  the  popular 
liberties,  but  came  so  far  short  of 
the  wishes  of  the  more  ardent  of 
the  victors  of  the  Barricades,  that 
great  fear  was  entertained  of  some 
furious  ebullition  of  public  oppo- 
sition to  the  proceedings  of  the 
Chambers.  However,  by  the 
exertions  of  the  leading  republi- 
cans among  the  Deputies  the 
effervescence  was  made  to  sub- 
side, and  the  whole  went  off  with- 
out the  commission  of  any  vio- 
lence. To  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  disorder,  the  settlement  of  the 
Government  was  energetically 
hurried  forward  by  the  Deputies, 


arrangements  being  made  for  ad- 
ministering the  oath  of  office  to 
the  new  King  on  Monday  next 
following  the  completion  of  the 
changes  in  the  Charter.  The 
Lieutenant  General  had  greatly 
furthered  his  own  popularity  by 
the  cordiality  of  his  participation 
in  all  that  was  done  for  the  secu- 
rity of  the  public  liberties,  and 
the  friends  of  the  new  dynasty 
felt  that  it  was  desirable  to  sail  oo 
the  tide  of  flood  to  the  point  at 
which  they  aimed. 

The  Baron  Capelle,  in  the 
work  which  he  has  published  on 
the  Revolution,  laments  that  the 
new  King  was  neither  anointed 
nor  crowned,  but  simply  installed, 
as  they  instal  the  presiding  officer 
of  a  court  of  justice.  It  is  truly  la- 
mentable that  the  principles  of 
civil  liberty  have  made  such  small 
advances  in  Europe,  that  sensible 
men  should  consider  the  mumme- 
ry and  extravagance  of  the  forms 
of  royal  coronation  used  by 
Charles  X.  as  alone  suited  to  '  the 
advanced  civilization  of  France.' 
The  journals  of  the  day  dignified 
the  ceremony  with  the  name  of 
enthronement ;  and  the  phrase  is 
well  enough ;  but  whatever  de- 
nomination it  should  bear,  the  act 
of  qualifying  the  Due  d'Orleans 
was  sufficiently  solemn  and  im- 
pressive, and  attended  with  quite 
as  much  of  state  as  belongs  to  a 
revolutionary  monarch.  It  took 
place  in  the  hall  of  the  Deputies, 
in  presence  of  all  the  parties  to  the 
late  legislative  acts.  M.  Casimir 
Perrier  read  aloud  the  Declara- 
tion of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
and  presented  it  to  the  Lieutenant 
General,  who  then  requested  and 
received  of  Baron  Pasquier  the 


FRANCE. 


391 


act  of  adhesion  of  the  Peers. — 
The  Prince  then  rose  and  said  : 

'  I  have  read  with  great  atten- 
tion the  Declaration  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  and  the  act  of 
adhesion  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers. 
I  have  weighed  and  meditated  all 
their  expressions.  I  accept  with- 
out restriction  or  reserve  the  con- 
ditions and  engagements,  which 
it  contains,  and  the  title  of  King 
of  the  French,  which  it  confers 
upon  me ;  and  I  am  ready  to 
swear  to  their  observance.' 

M.  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  acting 
Keeper  of  the  seals,  delivered  the 
form  of  the  oath  to  the  King,  who, 
according  to  the  New  England 
form  of  swearing  practised  in 
France,  raised  his  hand,  and  pro- 
nounced the  words  ofi^the  oath  as 
follows  :  — 

'  In  the  presence  of  God  I 
swear  faithfully  to  observe  the 
constitutional  Charter,  with  the 
modifications  expressed  in  the 
Declaration  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies ;  to  govern  only  by  the 
laws  and  according  to  the  laws ; 
to  cause  exact  and  impartial  jus- 
tice to  be  done  to  every  one  ac- 
cording to  his  rights ;  and  to  act 
in  all  things  with  a  sole  view  to 
the  interest,  the  happiness,  and 
the  glory  of  the  French  People.' 

The  King  then  having  subscrib- 
ed the  three  documents,  sat  down 
and  pronounced  the  following 
brief  speech  :  — 

'  I  have  performed  a  great  act. 
I  deeply  feel  the  weight  of  the 
duties  which  it  imposes  upon  me  ; 
but  my  conscience  tells  me  that  I 
shall  fulfil  them ;  and  it  is  with 
the  full  conviction  of  this  that  I 
have  accepted  the  conditions  pro- 
posed to  me.    I  could  have  wish- 


ed never  to  occupy  the  throne 
to  which  the  national  will  has 
called  me  ;  but  I  yield  to  this 
will,  expressed  by  the  Chambers 
in  the  name  of  the  French  Peo- 
ple, for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Charter  and  the  laws.  The  wise 
modifications  which  we  have  made 
in  the  Charter  guaranty  the  secu- 
rity of  the  future ;  and  France, 
I  trust,  will  be  happy  at  home  and 
respected  abroad  ;  and  the  peace 
of  Europe  more  and  more  con- 
firmed.' 

To  render  the  ceremony  more 
impressive  the  insignia  of  royalty 
were  presented  to  the  King  by 
four  Marshals  of  France-.  Mar- 
shal Macdonaid  presented  the 
crown,  Marshal  Oudinot  the  scep- 
tre. Marshal  Mortier  the  sword, 
and  Marshal  Molitor  the  hand  of 
justice. 

M.  Dupont  de  I'Eure  conclud- 
ed the  proceedings  by  inviting 
the  Deputies  to  meet  the  next 
day  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to 
the  King  and  obedience  to  the 
constitutional  Charter  and  the 
laws,  and  the  assembly  separated 
amid  acclamationsof  applause,  the 
Due  d'Orleans  being  now  Louis 
Philippe,  King  of  the  French. 

The  first  care  of  the  King  was, 
of  course,  to  fix  tlie  organization 
of  his  Cabinet  on  a  permanent 
basis.  The  Moniteur  of  August 
12th  announced  that  M.  Dupont 
de  I'Eure  was  appointed  Keeper 
of  the  Seals ;  General  Gerard, 
Minister  of  War ;  the  Due  de 
Broglie,  of  Public  Instruction ; 
M.  Guizot,  of  the  Interior;  Ba- 
ron Louis,  of  Finance;  Comte 
Mole,  of  Foreign  Affairs ;  and 
Comte  Sebastiani,  of  Marine. 
At  the  same  time  MM.  Lafitte, 


392 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Casimir  Perrier,  Dupin,  and  Big- 
non  became  members  of  the  Cabi- 
net without  holding  portfolios. 
These  eminent  individuals,  most 
of  whom  we  have  had  frequent 
occasion  to  mention  in  the  fore- 
going pages,  represented  the 
moderate  party  among  the  ene- 
mies of  the  late  dynasty  ;  and  the 
same  reasons,  which  had  seemed 
to  exact  the  hasty  proceeding  of 
the  Deputies  in  the  transfer  of 
the  Crown,  namely,  the  danger 
of  commotions  in  France  and  the 
necessity  of  conciliating  the  rest 
of  Europe,  —  spoke  loudly  in 
favor  of  the  formation  of  a  Cabi- 
net of  mbderate  views. 

The  Ministers  immediately 
proceeded  to  reform  the  officers 
of  the  army  and  the  employes  in 
the  civil  departments,  by  substi- 
tuting for  those,  who  held  their 
offices  or  commissions  from  the 
late  Government,  men  of  their 
own  political  opinions.  This  was 
imdoubtedly  just  and  proper  in 
such  a  case  as  a  change  of  dynas- 
ty, a  political  Revolution  brought 
on  by  the  usurpation  of  the  pre- 
vious head  of  the  State,  and  es- 
sential, indeed,  to  the  stability  of 
the  new  institutions.  The  officers 
of  the  old  army  now  had  their  re- 
venge for  the  neglect  to  which 
they  had  been  doomed  during 
the  two  last  reigns.  To  have 
been  prominent  in  the  days  of  the 
Republic  or  the  Empire  became 
a  tide  to  reward,  not  a  badge  of 
disgrace.  The  victors  of  the 
Three  Days  did  not  manifest  any 
indisposition  to  be  recompensed 
for  the  toils  and  dangers  and  loss- 
es they  had  undergone  during  the 
last  week  of  July.  In  the  claims 
for  official  honors  an(^ emolu- 


ments, which  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  new  Ministers,  those 
of  the  journalists  were  not  the 
least  urgent.  While  their  fear- 
less conduct  had  certainly  entided 
them  to  be  well  considered,  yet  if 
they  were  desirous  thus  to  can- 
cel the  merit  of  their  professedly 
patriotic  exertions  by  receiving 
compensation  as  for  mercenary 
services  performed,  it  may  well 
be  supposed  that  no  Government, 
in  the  then  state  of  France,  would 
feel  disposed  to  slight  the  preten- 
sions of  those,  who  governed  the 
movements  of  the  newspaper 
Press. 

The  next  care  of  the  new  Min- 
isters was  to  place  themselves  in 
amicable  communication  with  the 
various  powers  in  Europe.  As  to 
the  United  States  there  was  of 
course  no  room  for  doubt  or  difficul- 
ty. Mr  Rives  was  among  the  earli- 
est of  the  diplomatic  agents  in  Paris 
to  offer  his  good  wishes  to  a  Gov- 
ernment, which,  beside  the 
advantages  of  having  plausible 
grounds  of  right  to  stand  upon  in 
the  sense  of  legidmacy,  had  the 
nobler  claim  to  respect,  in  the 
republican  sense,  as  being  the 
product  of  the  sovereign  will  of 
the  People.  Our  Government 
entered,  without  hesitation,  into 
the  most  cordial  and  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  that  of  Louis  Phil- 
ippe. Nor  could  Great  Britain 
fail  to  see  that,  in  the  recent 
events,  France  had  but  imitated 
the  proceedings  of  the  revolu- 
tion, by  virtue  of  which  alone  the 
House  of  Hanover  ascended  the 
throne.  Whatever  sympathy  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  had  for  the 
fate  of  Charles  X.,  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  deny  that  this 


FRANCE. 


393 


unhappy  Prince  had  provoked 
and  justly  incurred  his  misfor- 
tunes.   Nor  would  the  Duke,  or 
any  other  English  Minister,  how- 
ever strained  the  notions  he  might 
entertain  of  legitimacy,  have  pre- 
sumed to  propose  the  quixotic 
plan  of  refusing  to  acknowledge 
Louis  Philippe.    England,  there- 
fore, from    principle,    and  the 
Netherlands,  as  much  from  fear 
as  principle,  manifested  no  re- 
luctance in  renewing  their  amica- 
ble relations  with  France.  Aus- 
tria, Prussia,  and  Spain  were  less 
prompt  in  doing  so  ;   but  they, 
like  some  of  the  minor  States,  did 
not  feel  bold  enough,  either  indi- 
vidually or  collectively,  to  defy 
the  revolutionary  spirit,  which  if 
duly  provoked,  seemed  as  capa- 
ble now,  as  it  was  thirty  years 
before,  of  sending  out  its  armed 
missionaries  to  preach  a  fearful 
doctrine  of  liberty  and  conquest 
in  every  corner  of  Europe.  Rus- 
sia made  a  stand  against  the  dan- 
gerous example  of  popular  right 
taking  to  itself  the  companionship 
of  popular  might ;   but  the  do- 
mestic   troubles    of    the  Czar 
compelled  him  also  to  temporize, 
and  at  last  acknowledge  the  new 
Government  when  he  could  no 
longer  help  doing  it.  France 
herself,  with  the  democratic  vigor 
of  a  national  effort,  speedily  arm- 
ed her  population  and  assumed 
the  attitude  of  defensive  energy 
suited  to  her  new  position  ;  and 
while  professing  an  earnest  desire 
to  preserve  peace,  prepared  her- 
self to  encounter  the  hazards  of 
war  whhout  reluctance  or  appre- 
hension. 

All  Europe  now  stood  in  fear- 
ful and  anxious  expectation,  filled 
34 


with  well  founded  dread  lest  the 
diffusion  of  the  sentiment  of  free- 
dom and  national  independence 
from  France  to  other  countries 
should  kindle  up  intestine  com- 
motion and  foreign  war  from  one 
end  of  Europe  to  the  other.  It 
is  not  surprising  that  Sovereigns, 
whose  whole  rule  was  a  series  of 
usurpations  such  as  that  which 
had  just  hurled  Charles  X.  from 
his  throne,  and  who  held  their 
authority  only  by  the  tenure  of 
conquest  or  successful  oppression 
of  their  natural  subjects,  should 
begin  to  feel  a  terrible  looking 
forward  to  judgment,  when  they 
heard  the  lesson  of  popular 
strength  and  popular  vengeance, 
which  the  barricades  of  Paris 
proclaimed  to  every  subject  of 
misrule  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

They  saw  that  France  had  re- 
opened a  school  af  liberty  for  the 
teaching  of  nations.     The  Mar- 
seilles Hymn  had  again  become 
classic  verse,  chanted  by  every 
voice   and  seemingly  sacred  to 
every  heart,  where  but  a  few 
weeks  before  to  lisp  its  name 
would  have  been  sedition.  The 
Reveil  du  Peuple  rang  once  more 
through    France,  arousing  her 
myriads    like    a    trumpet  call. 
The  tricolored  flag,  which  had 
waved  in  triumph  over  so  many 
well  fought  and  hard  won  fields 
of  battle,  was  unfurled  again,  and 
flung  abroad  to  the  breeze  as  ihe 
standard  of  a  martial  people,  full 
of  enthusiasm   and  ardor,  and 
proud  to  avow  those  forbidden 
tenets  of  national  independence, 
which  European  princes  would 
gladly  keep  confined   to  these 
wilds  of  America.    What  wonder 


394 


ANNUAL    REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  Nicholas,  or  Frederick  Wil- 
liam, or  Francis  of  Austria,  or 
William  of  Nassau  should  have 
trembled  in  the  inmost  recesses 
of  their  palaces  ?  For  they  saw- 
France  again  revolutionary,  re- 
vived, regenerate,  snapping  asun- 
der the  chains  which  had  been 
fastened  upon  her  at  Waterloo 
like  Sampson  escaping  from  the 
toils  of  Delilah,  and  standing  up 
in  her  strength  as  an  armed 
knight  ready  to  do  battle  against 
all  challengers. 

It  comes  not  within  the  scope 
and  compass  of  our  present  pur- 
pose to  follow  the  effects  of  the 
Revolution  at  home  or  abroad. 
The  repetition  of  the  barricades 
of  Paris  in  Brussels,  the  troubles 
in  Italy,  the  revolt  of  the  heroic 
Poles,  the  discussion  of  constitu- 
tional reform  in  England,  —  these 
and  other  kindred  topics  belong 
to  the  history  of  another  year. 
We  leave  the  French  with  the 
form  and  conditions  of  Govern- 
ment which  their  leaders  had 
chosen  for  them,  entering  upon 
the  agitated  career  of  freedom 
under  better  auspices  than  in  the 
old  time.  The  whole  field  of 
political  disquisition  was  now 
open  to  her  writers  and  her 
speakers.  With  them,  it  was  no 
longer  a  dispute  of  ordinances 
or  double  vote,  or  censorships, 
and  still  less  of  Villele  or  Polig- 
nac,  those  ministerial  bugbears, 
which  had  so  long  been  used  to 
frighten  men  withal.  These  were 
trivial  questions  which  had  pass- 
ed away  forever,  and  yielded 
place  to  more  stirring  matters,  as 
the  rushing  tempest  clears  off  the 


mists  that  hover  about  the  lower 
sky.  It  ceased  to  be  a  consid- 
eration simply  of  the  now  com- 
paratively trifling  inquiry,  of  what 
dynasty  should  sit  on  the  throne 
of  Saint  Louis.  In  the  devel- 
opement  of  the  principle  which 
was  now  the  basis  of  the  public 
law  of  the  French,  that  neither 
divine  communication  to  a  favor- 
ed individual  or  family,  nor 
transmission  by  hereditary  suc- 
cession, nor  prescription,  nor 
concession  from  the  head  of  the 
church,  nor  consecration  by  his 
legates  and  bishops,  was  the  le- 
gitimate source  of  power,  but  that 
it  flowed  only  from  the  supreme 
will  of  the  People; — and  in  the 
consideration  whether  the  defence 
of  their  own  institutions  did  not 
require  them  to  anticipate  the 
formation  of  a  hostile  league  of 
crowned  heads,  and  to  propagate 
the  faith  of  liberty  as  it  were 
in  partihus  infidelium,  so  as  to 
raise  up  beforehand  an  adversary 
league  of  the  governed  millions 
for  their  reciprocal  protection 
against  the  governing  few ;  —  in 
such  deep  and  all  comprehensive 
subjects  of  interest  was  the  rife 
mind  of  France  now  absorbed,  to 
the  exclusion  of  every  meaner 
thing.  To  the  French  there  had 
commenced  a  period  of  daring 
speculation,  of  bold  purpose,  of 
brilliant  promise  :  to  all  but  the 
French,  a  period  of  vehement 
agitation  and  uncontrollable  so- 
licitude. The  meteor  star  of 
revolution  had  arisen  to  pour 
forth  its  stormy  light  upon  the 
nations :  but  what  presumptuous 
gazer  could  presume  to  calculate 
its  orbit  ? 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


NETHERLANDS. 

Opposition  of  the  Allies  to  Republican   Governments.  —  Kingdom 
of  the  Netherlands  —  2%e  Creation  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

—  United  Provinces ^  Islands,  <^c,  of  German  Origin.  —  Walloons 
of  the  Gallic  race.  —  Contests  of  the  Fifth  Century  between  the 
Salians  and  Saxons.  —  Conversion  of  Witikend  to  Christianity. 

—  Conquest  of  the  Country  by  Charlemagne. —  Corporate  Trades. 

—  Charles  the  great  grandfather  of  Charles  Fifth.  —  Marriage 
of  his  daughter  with  Maximilian  of  Austria.  —  Connexion  with 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  —  Charles  Fifth.  —  Reformation.  —  In- 
quisition. —  Philip.  —  William  of  Japan.  —  The  obnoxious  Min- 
ister Granville.  —  Gueux  or  Beggars,  the  title  of  the  Opposers 
of  Government.  —  Division  between  the  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics.—  Union  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces.  —  Power  of  the 
Dutch  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries.  —  Conquests 
in  the  East  and  West  Indies.  —  French  Revolution.  —  Batavian 
Republic.  —  Kingdom  of  Holland.  —  French  Province.  —  Bel- 
gium annexed  to  France.  —  Revolution  of  ISIS.  —  Restoration  of 
House  of  JVassau.  —  Constitution.  —  Belgium  united  with  Hol- 
land. —  Assembly  of  JVotables.  — -  Amended  Constitution.  —  Pub- 
lic Debt.  —  Situation  of  the  JVetherlands  as  to  Foreign  Powers.  — 
Internal  Disputes  from  the  Catholic  Religion  and  Education. — 
Free  Trade  and  Restriction.  —  Ordinances  as  to  Language.  — 
Budget.  — M.  de  Potter.  — His  Trial.  —  Session  of  1829. — 
Ministerial  Responsibility.  —  Law  on  the  Press.  —  Revolution  of 
26th  August,  1830.  —  Demands  of  the  Belgians.  —  Meeting  of 
the  States  General,  i2th  September,  1830.  —  King^s  Speech. — 
Provisional  Government  at  Brussels.  —  Attack  of  Prince  Fre- 
deric. —  Recognition  of  Belgians  by  the  Prince  of  Orange.  — 
Return  of  M.  de  Potter  to  Brussels.  —  Character  of  King  William. 

When  in  1814,  after  the  down-  pean  society,  a  cardinal  principle, 

fal  of  the  great  chieftain,   the  by  which  they  were  actuated,  was 

Plenipotentiaries  of  the  primary  hostility  to  all  republics.  Recol- 

powers  met  in  Congress  to  parcel  lecting  what  Kings  and  Emperors 

out  the  fruits  of  their  victories  and  had  suffered  from  the  anarchists 

to  reconstruct  the  fabric  of  Euro-  and  military  despotsof  France,  they 


396 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,   1829  —  30. 


did  not  enter  into  any  minute  ex- 
amination of  the  modifications  of 
which  this  class  of  governments  is 
susceptible.  The  status  ante  hel- 
ium, on  the  strength  of  which  the 
Allies  had  fought  and  conquered, 
was  good  for  the  Prince  but  of  no 
avail  when  applied  to  the  People. 
It  is  true,  the  absurdity  was  not 
attempted  of  subjecting  the  hardy 
Swiss  peasantry,  who  had  retain- 
ed at  least  a  nominal  independence 
in  the  worst  of  times,  to  the  sway 
of  sovereign  princes,  but  the  an- 
cient renown  of  Venice  and  Ge- 
noa pleaded  io  vain  for  their  re- 
newed existence  as  separate 
States;  and  it  could  hardly  be 
expected  that,  in  taking  from 
France  some  of  the  most  valuable 
additions  made  to  her  territory  by 
the  Republican  and  Imperial  Gov- 
ernments, it  was  intended  to  give 
places  in  the  councils  of  Europe 
to  the  untitled  burghers  of 
Amsterdam,  or  to  constitute  into 
a  republic  those  Austrian  provin- 
ces, which  had  of  old  preferred 
despotism  and  the  inquisition  to 
independence,  accompanied  by 
religious  toleration. 

The  well  concerted  plans  of 
the  adherents  of  the  house  of  Or- 
ange had,  indeed,  in  some  degree 
relieved  Metternich  and  Castle- 
reagh  and  their  worthy  associates 
from  theresponsibility  of  proclaim- 
ing to  the  enterprising  and  indus- 
trious Hollanders  that  that  system, 
under  which  their  ancestors  had 
immortalized  themselves  by  an 
almost  continued  struggle  of  eighty 
years  with  the  then  most  powerful 
Slate  of  Christendom,  was  gone 
forever. 

But  the  change  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Holland  underwent  in 


substituting  a  king  for  an  heredi- 
tary stadtholder  and  transferring 
to  the  sovereign  the  whole  execu- 
tive power,  much  of  which  had 
formerly  been  shared  with  the 
States  General  and  the  Provincial 
States,  is  far  from  constituting  the 
most  important  matter  connected 
with  the  construction  of  the  King- 
dom of  the  Netherlands. 

This  state  is  truly  and  em- 
phatically a  creation  of  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna,  and  as,  from  re- 
cent events,  it  is  probable  its  two 
great  divisions,  which  were  dis- 
connected prior  to  1814,  for  near- 
ly two  centuries  and  a  half,  will 
hereafter  form  separate  principali- 
ties, a  brief  reference  to  som.e  of 
the  causes  which  produced  the 
marked  dissimilarity  between  the 
people  of  Holland  and  Belgium 
may  not,  at  this  time,  be  without 
advantage. 

Though  the  history  of  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  fully 
shows  that  the  influence  of  religion 
and  present  interest  are  more  in- 
fluential with  nations  than  the  re- 
collection of  a  common  origin,  it 
is  not  unworthy  of  notice,  that  the 
northern  section  of  the  Kingdom, 
constituting  the  old  Republic  of 
the  United  Provinces,  as  well  as 
Flanders  and  the  western  and 
maritime  districts,  was  settled  by 
inhabitants  from  Germany,  while 
only  the  people  between  the 
Meuse  and  the  Scheldt,  denomi- 
nated Walloons,  belonged  to  the 
Gallic  race.  The  territory  of  the 
latter,  indeed,  with  a  portion  of 
France,  formed  one  of  the  three 
parts  of  ancient  Gaul,  and  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Belgium 
in  the  Commentaries  of  Julius 
Caesar, 


NETHERLANDS. 


397 


In  the  contests  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury between  the  Salians  and  the 
Saxons  we  have  a  prototype  of 
the  long  wars  which  were  to  arise 
between  France  and  England, 
and  which,  as  has  since  so  fre- 
quently happened,  were  then  set- 
tled in  the  Low  Countries. 

In  a  subsequent  age,  even 
those  Districts  which  had  been 
enabled  to  escape  the  Roman 
yoke,  were  compelled  to  submit 
to  the  combined  operations  of 
Christianity  and  civilization  ;  and 
when,  about  the  commencement 
of  the  ninth  century,  Witikend, 
the  last  avenger  of  national  inde- 
pendence, was  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity and  became  a  noble  of  the 
Court  of  Charlemagne,  the  con- 
quest of  his  country  was  consum- 
mated. 

The  same  causes  were  every- 
where attended  with  similar  ef- 
fects. The  origin  of  the  Italian 
Republics  of  the  middle  age  and 
the  resistance  which  the  cities  of 
Germany  offered  to  the  neigh- 
boring barons  present  many  analo- 
gous features.  The  despotism  of 
the  Franks  led  the  Netherlanders 
to  form  those  associations  for  mu- 
tual protection  in  the  different 
towns,  which  are  the  foundation 
of  many  of  their  most  valuable 
municipal  rights,  and  which,  under 
almost  the  same  name  of  Guild 
or  Guilder,  are  to  be  recognised 
as  the  basis  of  the  English  corpo- 
rate Trades.  Within  a  century 
from  the  death  of  Charlemagne 
these  corporations  had  extended 
themselves  over  the  whole  of 
Flanders  ;  and  after  the  crusades 
had  diminished  the  power  of  the 
Nobles  and  increased  that  of  the 
People,  we  trace  many  examples 
34* 


of  the  successful  efforts  of  the 
burghers  against  the  influence  of 
feudality.  The  Courts  of  the 
Provinces,  also,  though  acknow- 
ledging a  nominal  dependence  on 
the  Emperor,  ruled  without  refer- 
ence to  the  superior  lord. 

In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  the  Government  of  the 
Netherlands  was  in  a  great  meas- 
ure concentrated  in  the  houses  of 
Burgundy  and  Bavaria,  which 
were  closely  connected  by  inter- 
marriages. Charjes,  the  great 
grandfather  of  the  illustrious  mon- 
arch of  that  name,  having  under 
his  domination  an  extent  of  terri- 
tory, exceeding  that  of  the  late 
Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  assuming  the 
royal  diadem,  —  a  project  that, 
according  to  the  views  of  those 
times,  required  the  sanction  of  the 
Emperor,  but  in  obtaining  which 
he  was  defeated  by  his  own  arro- 
gance. 

The  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Charles  married  Maximilian  of 
Austria.  His  son  and  daughter 
formed  matrimonial  connexions 
with  the  daughter  and  son  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  of  Castile  and 
Arragon,  —  an  alliance  which  led 
to  the  connexion  with  Spain, — • 
a  connexion  which  cost  the  Dutch 
two  thirds  of  a  century  of  protract- 
ed war  and  suffering,  before  their 
deliverance  from  all  foreign  sway 
was  gloriously  achieved. 

The  fruit  of  this  marriage  was 
the  Emperor  Charles  Fifth,  who 
was  inaugurated  Duke  of  Brabant 
and  Count  of  Flanders  and  Hol- 
land, and  became,  by  other  titles 
and  acquisitions,  Sovereign  of  all 
the  Netherlands  almost  at  the 
same  epoch  that  the  principles  of 


3:98  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  80. 


the  reformation  were  adopted  and 
promulgated  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries by  the  Bishops  of  Utrecht, 
the  learned  Erasmus  of  Rotter- 
dam, and  other  distinguished  indi- 
viduals. 

It  is  from  this  date  that  we  may 
trace  those  distinctions  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  prov- 
inces, which,  fostered  by  national 
institutions  leading  to  the  pursuit 
of  different  branches  of  industry, 
overcame  all  ties  of  primitive  ori- 
gin and  common  language,  and 
led  to  those  frequent  altercations, 
for  which,  the  deliberations  of  the 
Netherlands  Legislature  during 
the  whole  period  of  its  short-lived 
existence,  was  conspicuous. 

Charles,  who,  while  on  the 
throne,  had  never  discovered  what 
his  simple  effort  to  make  two 
watches  go  alike  taught  him  while 
in  retirement,  the  absolute  impos- 
sibility of  bringing  about  a  con- 
formity in  the  sentiments  of  man- 
kind, laid,  in  his  reign,  the  foun- 
dation of  the  persecution  of  the 
Protestants. 

The  Inquisition,  in  a  modified 
form,  was  introduced  into  the 
Netherlands,  but  it  was  Philip  who 
drove  his  subjects  to  an  armed 
resistance  against  edicts,  aimed 
not  less  at  their  civil  liberty  than 
at  their  religious  faith. 

This  monarch,  who  left  behind 
him,  in  his  wide  dominions,  a 
most  unenviable  reputation  for  cru- 
elty and  bigotry,  was  wholly  de- 
void of  sympathy  for  the  people 
of  the  Low  Countries,  of  w^iose 
language  and  customs  he  was  en- 
tirely ignorant.  The  States  of 
the  Provinces  still  possessed  many 
of  the  rights  usually  exercised  by 
the  nobles  and  deputies  of  towns 


in  the  feudal  monarchies  of  the 
middle  ages. 

The  most  insidious  attempts 
were  made  to  wrest  the  liberties 
of  the  People  from  them,  but 
they  were  effectually  thwarted  by 
William  of  Nassau,  who  com- 
menced in  the  States  General  in 
1559,  a  constitutional  resistance, 
to  which  subsequent  events  com- 
pelled him  to  give  a  totally  differ- 
ent aspect.  In  the  early  discus- 
sions, the  removal  of  an  obnox- 
ious minister  was  the  ostensible 
ground  of  opposition,  and  the 
name  of  Granville  figures  as  much 
in  the  annals  of  1560,  as  that  of 
Vanmaanen  in  those  of  1830  ;  but 
the  stress  laid  on  those  compara- 
tively insignificant  individuals,  in 
the  one  and  the  other  case,  only 
proves  how  much  easier  it  is  to 
interest  the  feelings  of  the  people 
against  obnoxious  rulers  than  to 
induce  them  to  embark  in  the 
support  of  an  abstract  proposition. 
In  this  hostility,  however,  to  the 
unconstitutional  servants  of  the 
Crown,  principles  were  distinctly 
embodied,  and  despotism  was  at- 
tacked in  the  persons  of  its  min- 
isters. 

The  defenders  of  the  People's 
rights  were  stigmatized  as  gueux 
or  beggars ;  a  term  w^hich,  like 
that  of  Democrats  or  Workingmen 
among  us,  soon  became  a  title  of 
triumph  instead  of  reproach. 

At  first,  it  was  a  general  resist- 
ance to  illegal  edicts  that  united 
all  good  patriots,  and  the  South- 
ern Provinces  co-operated  with 
their  countrymen.  The  city  of 
Antwerp,  indeed,  was  the  central 
point  of  Union.  But  the  special 
grievances  under  which  the  Pro- 
testants labored  by  the  attempt  to 


NETHERLANDS. 


399 


put  into  vigorous  execution  the 
iurious  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  against  heresy,  and  the  es- 
tablishment, in  its  fullest  rigor,  of 
the  Inquisition,  gave  to  this  perse- 
cuted sect  peculiar  grounds  of 
resistance  ;  while  their  deep-root- 
ed bigotry  led  the  Walloons  Prov- 
inces, in  1578,  to  abandon  all  as- 
sociation with  their  heretical  breth- 
ren, and  desert  the  patriot  cause. 

This  proceeding  was  followed 
by  a  union  of  the  northern  section 
of  the  country,  the  foundation  of 
the  Republic  of  the  seven  United 
Provinces,  embracing  Holland, 
Zealand,  Utrecht,  Friesland, 
Groningen,  Overryssel  and  Guild- 
erland.  The  new  government 
was  remarkably  wanting  in  ener- 
gy, having  many  of  the  defects, 
and  in  a  still  greater  degree,  of 
our  old  confederacy.  Each  prov- 
ince was  independent,  and  though 
Holland,  from  its  preponderating 
strength,  possessed  great  influ- 
ence, yet  the  assent  of  each  mem- 
ber of  the  confederacy  was  in  all 
cases  necessary,  —  a  provision 
which  frequently  occasioned  the 
most  ruinous  delays  in  foreign  ne- 
gotiations and  other  matters  of 
paramount  importance.  Antwerp, 
Ghent,  Bruges,  and  other  com- 
mercial towns  had  likewise,  at 
first,  sided  with  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty and  protestanism.  They 
were,  however,  subsequently  com- 
pelled by  superior  force  to  leave 
the  association  and  to  adopt  as 
their  exclusive  faith,  the  religion 
of  their  Spanish  rulers,  which,  in 
time  eradicated  Protestantism  from 
the  Provinces,  that  continued  sub- 
ject to  foreign  domination. 

The  plan  of  our  labors  only 
allows  us  to  describe  by  way  of 


rapid  retrospect  the  occurrences 
of  those  remote  times.  We  must, 
therefore,  pass  over  the  cruelties 
of  Alva  the  treachery  of  Anjou, 
the  judgment  and  moderation  of 
William  of  Nassau  and  the  many 
interesting  incidents  of  the  civii 
war.  From  the  treaty  of  Munster, 
the  history  of  the  United  Provin- 
ces is  blended  with  that  of  the 
great  European  world.  Con- 
nected with  the  primary  states  in 
all  the  important  wars  and  nego- 
tiations oi  the  17th  and  18th 
centuries,  they  not  only  became 
the  commercial  rivals  of  England, 
but  contended  with  her  for  the 
supremacy  of  the  ocean.  The 
influence  of  the  Dutch  was  not 
confined  to  their  own  continent. 
They  were  successful  in  laying 
the  foundation  of  colonies  in  the 
East  and  West  Indies  and  many 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  middle 
section  of  our  Union,  boast  a  de- 
scent from  the  natives  of  Holland, 

In  our  own  revolution,  the 
United  Provinces  were  appealed 
to  by  the  infant  Republic  of 
America,  and  strongly  urged  to 
aid  in  furtherance  of  a  contest 
for  those  principles  of  national 
independence,  of  which  their  own 
annals  presented  so  glorious  a 
precedent. 

Crippled  in  her  naval  strength, 
by  the  unequal  struggles,  which 
in  the  last  wars  she  had  carried 
on  with  her  formidable  rival,  and 
weakened  by  the  attempt  in  1787 
to  diminish  the  power  of  the 
Stadtholder  and  which  had  been 
terminated  by  the  interposition  of 
foreign  troops,  Holland  could  of- 
fer no  resistance  to  the  overwhelm- 
ing current  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution.    Following  the  example 


400 


ANNUAL  REGESTER,  1829  —  30. 


of  the  '  great  nation''  the  Stadt- 
holderate  was  aboHshed,  the  States 
General  were  transmuted  into  a 
National  Assembly,  the  name  of 
the  United  Provinces  was  lost  in 
that  of  the  Batavian  republic  ;  and 
when  Bonaparte  subsequently  as- 
sumed the  imperial  crown,  this 
country  was  granted  to  his  bro- 
ther Louis,  from  whom  it  was  in  a 
few  years  wrested  and  annexed  to 
the  empire  on  the  extraordinary 
pretext  that  the  Provinces  of 
Holland  were  an  alluvion  of  the 
French  rivers.  Before,  however, 
her  nominal  independence  was 
annihilated,  England  had  put  an 
end  to  all  those  formidable  means 
of  annoyance,  which  the  country- 
men of  De  Ruyter  and  Von 
Tromp,  had  once  possessed.  At 
the  battle  of  Camperdown  (17th 
Oct.  1797)  the  principal  part  of 
the  Navy  of  Holland  was  utterly 
destroyed,  and  the  Colonies  fell, 
of  course,  into  the  hands  of  the 
mistress  of  the  ocean. 

Belgium,  which  was  one  of  the 
first  conquests  of  the  republican 
arms,  had  been  long  previously 
annexed  to  France ;  and  of  its 
history  subsequent  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Northern  provin- 
ces, it  may  suffice  to  observe  that, 
in  the  partition  of  the  Spanish 
successions,  by  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht  in  1713,  the  possessions 
of  the  Catholic  King  in  the  Low 
Countries  were  ceded  to  the  Em- 
peror, as  a  compensation  for  his 
consenting  to  the  accession  of  the 
grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  to  the 
crown  of  Spain  and  the  Indies. 
While,  indeed,  the  United  Prov- 
inces for  two  centuries,  command- 
ed the  respect  and  admiration  of 
mankind,  the  Southern  Nether- 


lands were  only  accounted  of 
importance  among  nations,  when 
it  became  necessary  to  settle  a 
question  of  conflicting  indemni- 
ties. Before  the  Austrian  sway 
was  withdrawn  from  these  coun- 
tries, it  was  manifested,  by  the 
result  of  the  reforms  proposed  by 
the  Emperor  Joseph,  that,  how- 
ever much  influence  the  writings 
of  the  French  philosophers  might 
elsewhere  have  produced,  the 
Provinces  of  the  Low  Countries 
had  escaped  the  infection.  The 
Catholic  religion  had  nigh  effect- 
ed in  the  southern  section  of  the 
Netherlands,  in  behalf  of  super- 
stition, what  Protestantism  had  for- 
merly accomplished  for  more  en- 
lightened doctrines  in  the  regions 
of  the  north.  The  Belgian  clergy 
vehemently  resisted  all  attempts  to 
interfere  with  the  absolute  control 
which  the  usages  of  that  religion 
give  to  the  priests,  over  the  minds 
and  actions  of  their  parishioners. 

The  revolution  of  Holland,  of 
1813,  was  one  of  those  national 
movements,not  unusual  in  the  times 
in  which  it  was  accomplished. 
The  people  seemed  disposed  to 
rise  in  the  majesty  of  their  strength 
and  redeem  their  country  from 
the  bondage  of  foreign  oppressors. 
It  was  not,  as  has  often  been  re- 
marked, the  Princes  but  the  Peo- 
ple, who  overturned  Napoleon's 
widely  extended  empire ;  and 
assuredly,  if  any  part  of  Europe 
suffered  from  the  French  sove- 
reignty, it  was  Holland.  Not  only 
was  one  half  of  the  youth  carried 
away  to  fight  battles  in  which  they 
had  no  interest,  not  only  was  the 
whole  population  burthened  with 
the  heaviest  taxes,  but  the  cojiti- 
nental  system  was  fatal  to  Am- 


NETHERLANDS. 


401 


sterdam  and  the  other  great  towns, 
which  had  been  enriched  by  for- 
eign trade  and  were  dependent 
on  commerce  for  a  continuance  of 
their  prosperity.  When,  there- 
fore, some  of  the  partisans  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  in  the  latter 
part  of  IS  13,  took  advantage  of 
the  dechning  fortunes  of  Bona- 
parte, and  collecting  a  trifling 
force  of  two  or  three  hundred 
men,  proclaimed  the  House  of 
Nassau,  they  were  seconded  by 
the  Nation  at  large  without  refer- 
ence to  those  minor  distinctions, 
by  which  they  had  anciently  been 
distracted.  William  I.  was  ev- 
ery where  proclaimed  sovereign 
prince,  and  thus  by  the  happy 
arrangements  of  his  friends,  he 
was  freed  from  all  embarrassments 
respecting  the  disputed  functions 
of  a  Stadtholder  ;  on  assuming 
the  Government,  he  published  an 
address,  in  which  he  thus  express- 
ed himself  with  regard  to  the  au- 
thority with  which  he  was  about 
to  be  invested.  '  You  desire, 
Netherlanders,  that  I  should  be 
intrusted  with  a  greater  share  of 
power  than  I  should  have  possess- 
ed but  for  my  absence.  Your 
confidence,  your  affection  offer 
me  the  sovereignty,  and  I  am  call- 
ed upon  to  accept  h,  since  the 
state  of  my  country,  and  the  situ- 
ation of  Europe  require  it.'  The 
preliminary  acts  were  followed  by 
more  formal  arrangements.  A 
convention  of  notables  to  the  num- 
ber of  six  hundred,  selected  by 
the  householders  without  distinc- 
tion of  religion  or  other  considera- 
tions, from  twelve  hundred  names 
submitted  to  them  by  a  special 
commission,  met  at  Amsterdam 
on  the  26th  of  March,  I8I43  and 


adopted  a  political  code  as  the 
basis  of  the  new  Constitution. 
Immediately  thereafter  the  Prince 
of  Orange  took  the  requisite  oath 
and  was  solemnly  inaugurated  in 
the  sovereignty. 

While  these  proceedings  were 
occurring  in  the  northern  Provin- 
ces, Belgium  was  undergoing  the 
same  political  transition  as  the 
other  States  of  Europe.  Though 
from  the  extended  markets  which 
Napoleon's  empire  shut  out  from 
all  English  supplies  afforded  for 
her  manufactures,  there  was  less 
reason  for  discontent  there,  than 
in  the  other  portions  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, it  was  not  consistent  with 
the  views  of  the  Allies  that  those 
rich  provinces  should  continue  an- 
nexed to  the  dominions  of  France, 
a  final  incorporation  with  the 
country,  to  which  they  had  been 
united  for  several  years,  would 
unquestionably  have  been  gratify- 
ing to  the  mass  of  the  Nation^ 
while  the  old  nobility  and  privi- 
leged orders  sighed  for  the  return 
of  the  Austrian  sway,  under  which 
alone  their  ancestral  rights  could 
be  rendered  of  any  avail.  Oc- 
cupied by  the  forces  of  the  coal- 
esced powers,  some  indication  of 
the  future  disposition  of  the  south- 
ern Provinces  was  given  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  but  it  was  by  the 
treaty  of  London  of  June,  1814, 
that  the  nature  of  the  increased 
territory  intended  for  Holland, 
was  distinctly  indicated.  It  was 
then  determined  without  consult- 
ing the  component  parts  of  the 
new  State,  that  the  old  Republic 
of  the  United  Provinces  and  Bel- 
gium should  together  constitute  a 
Kingdom,  and  besides  covenant- 
ing for  this  Union,  the  Allied 


t 


402 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Powers  were  parties  to  the  treaty, 
which  required  that  religious  hb- 
erty,  and  the  equal  right  of  citi- 
zens of  every  persuasion  to  fill  all 
public  employments  should  be 
maintained  —  that  the  Belgians 
should  be  fairly  represented  in  the 
States  General  —  that  all  com- 
mercial privileges  should  be  open 
to  the  citizens  at  large  — that  the 
Dutch  Colonies,  some  of  which 
England  had  restored,  should  be 
deemed  to  belong  equally  to  the 
whole  Kingdom,  and  that  the  debt 
of  the  two  countries  should  be  a 
joint  charge.  The  Duchy  of 
Luxembourg,  the  only  Province 
remaining  of  those  which  before 
the  16th  century,  had  formed  the 
Spanish  Netherlands,  was  like- 
wise placed  under  the  sovereignty 
of  the  new  King,  but  without  be- 
ing incorporated  with  the  mon- 
arch. Being  given  as  an  indem- 
nity for  his  hereditary  dominions, 
it  was  made  to  constitute  a  part 
of  the  Germanic  confederacy. 

The  Constitution  formed  for 
Holland,  and  to  which  we  have  al- 
luded, was  extended  to  the  whole 
country.  It  had  been  framed,  as 
we  have  seen,  without  reference 
to  Belgium,  but  to  give  to  this  part 
of  the  Kingdom  the  appearance 
of  concurring  in  the  establishment 
of  the  fundamental  code,  on  the 
promulgation  of  the  decisions  of 
the  Sovereign  Powers  from  Vien- 
na, in  February,  1815,  a  mixed 
commission  was  appointed  to  pro- 
pose the  modifications  rendered 
necessary  by  the  enlargement  of 
the  new  State;  and  on  the  16th 
of  March  the  title  of  King  of  the 
Netherlands  was  assumed.  Be- 
fore the  commission  was  prepared 
£0  report,  its  business  was  inter- 


rupted by  the  events  which  were 
concluded  by  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo on  the  17th  of  June,  1815, 
and  which  affords  another  instance 
of  bringing  to  issue  the  affairs  of 
Europe  in  the  rich  and  luxuriant 
provinces  of  the  Netherlands. 
On  the  13th  of  July  following,  the 
labors  of  the  commission  were 
terminated. 

The  Constitution  gives  the  ex- 
ecutive power  to  the  Sovereign, 
and  the  legislative  to  him  in  con- 
currence with  the  States  General ; 
one  House  of  which  is  elected  by 
the  Provincial  Estates,  who  are 
chosen  by  the  People,  and  the 
members  of  the  other  are  named 
for  life  by  the  King.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  Judiciary  was 
provided  for.  The  usual  guaran- 
tees are  inserted  for  personal  lib- 
erty and  private  rights,  though 
that  of  trial  by  jury  generally 
deemed  an  essential  provision, 
was  not  introduced.  It  was  de- 
clared that  the  liberty  of  the  press 
should  have  no  other  restraint 
than  the  responsibility  of  the  wri- 
ters, printers,  and  publishers. 
The  Provincial  States  were  to  be 
continued  for  administrative  pur- 
poses, and  they  also  were  to  regu- 
late the  local  budgets.  The  num- 
ber of  Deputies  of  the  Lower 
House  was  not  determined  by 
population  ;  but  though  the  South- 
ern Provinces  contained  more 
than  three  fifths  of  the  whole 
number  of  inhabitants,  the  same 
amount  of  representation  was  giv- 
en to  each  of  the  two  portions  of 
the  Kingdom.  This  apparent 
inequality  was,  it  was  said,  com- 
pensated by  the  fact  that  Batavia, 
Surinam,  Curacoa,  and  St  Eus- 
tatia,  which   were  restored  by 


NETHERLANDS. 


403 


Great  Britain,  were  peculiarly  the 
colonies  of  Holland,  as  well  as  by 
the  greater  wealth  of  that  coun- 
try. Instead  of  deriving  the 
benefits  anticipated  from  the  for- 
eign possessions,  we  may  here 
remark  en  passant,  they  were  even 
literally  sources  of  weakness. 
Though  by  an  advantageous  ex- 
change made  with  the  British 
Government  in  1824,  Bencoolen 
and  all  the  islands  of  Sumatra 
were  obtained  for  Malacca  and 
the  Dutch  setllements  on  the  In- 
dian Continent,  a  war  in  Java, 
which  broke  out  in  1821,  was 
protracted  through  several  years 
and  only  declared  by  the  King  to 
be  terminated,  in  his  message,  de- 
livered to  the  States  General  in 
the  session  subsequent  to  the  se- 
cession of  Belgium.  Equality  of 
religion  was  specially  stipulated 
in  the  Constitution.  As  in  France, 
the  projects  of  laws  came  from  the 
Government,  and  the  Heads  of 
Departments,  whether  members 
or  not,  had  the  right  of  explain- 
ing in  either  House,  the  views  of 
the  administration. 

The  nature  of  the  union  can- 
not be  understood  without  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  amount  and 
character  of  the  debt  assumed  on 
the  general  account  of  the  new 
Kingdom.  This  burden,  imposed 
on  the  State  at  its  organization, 
including  twentyfive  million  florins 
for  a  Russian  loan  contracted  at 
Amsterdam,  and  the  debt  an- 
ciently hypothecated  by  Austria 
on  her  Provinces  in  the  Low 
Countries,  amounted,  in  1826,  to 
3,800,000,000  florins.  In  this 
aggregate,  however,  is  estimated 
the  old  debt,  which  was  not  all 
paying  an  interest ;  but  two  thirds 


of  which  having  been  struck  ofFby 
Napoleon  was  still  deferred  and 
only  admitted  by  instalments  of  four 
millions  annually  to  the  favored 
class.  The  sum  at  the  time  re- 
ferred to,  absolutely  a  charge  on 
the  yearly  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, was  1,664,669,000  florins; 
the  greater  part  of  which  was 
originally  contracted  for  purposes 
altogether  alien  to  the  interests  of 
Belgium.  The  taxes  levied  in 
1826  are  stated  at  104,542,413 
florins,  and  the  average  for  the 
eleven  preceding  years  had  been 
88,044,152  florins,  or  about 
£7,337,012. 

On  the  27th  of  August,  1815, 
the  King  published  his  decree 
announcing  his  adoption  of  the 
fundamental  law.  It  had  been 
approved  in  the  Northern  Prov- 
inces by  the  States  General,  con- 
vened in  double  the  ordinary 
number.  In  the  Southern  Prov- 
inces, recourse  was  had  to  the 
same  means  of  getting  together  an 
assembly,  as  had  been  employed 
in  Holland  on  the  first  return  of 
the  Prince.  A  number  of  nota- 
bles from  each  Arrondissement, 
were  convened  in  proportion  to 
the  population ;  but  as  appears 
from  the  royal  proclamation  itself, 
the  expectations  of  the  King  were 
not  answered,  and  it  was  only  by 
putting  on  the  acts  of  the  meeting, 
a  forced  construction,  that  the 
Constitution  could  be  said  to  have 
been  approved  by  his  Southern 
subjects.  Of  the  persons  called 
together,  one  sixth  did  not  attend  ; 
and  of  the  remainder,  only  five 
hundred  and  twenty  supported  the 
project,  while  seven  hundred  and 
ninetysix  opposed  it.  But  as  one 
hundred  and  twentysix  of  those 


404 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


who  voted  against  the  Constitution 
formally  declared  that  their  hos- 
fflity  was  occasioned  by  the  arti- 
cles respecting  religion,  and  as 
these  were  conformable  to  the 
legislation  which  had  long  existed, 
were  founded  on  treaties,  and 
were  in  harmony  with  the  principles 
which  the  most  pious  sovereigns 
had  introduced  in  the  system  of 
Europe  ;  they  could  not  be  omit- 
ted in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Netherlands  without  jeoparding 
the  existence  of  the  monarchy  and 
without  weakening  the  guarantee 
of  the  rights  of  those  very  persons, 
whom  these  stipulations  had  most 
alarmed.  In  this  state  paper,  it 
may  be  added,  little  respect  was 
paid  to  the  Catholic  Clergy,  who 
it  was  pretty  clearly  intimated,  had 
been  wanting  in  that  evangelical 
charity  and  toleration  which  were 
to  be  expected  from  the  ministers 
of  religion. 

The  Kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands, as  organized  by  the  Allied 
Powers,  was  two  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  in  length  by  one 
hundred  and  twenty  in  breadth ; 
but  though  of  extremely  limited 
extent,  yet,  as  it  was  the  most 
densely  populated  country  in  Eu- 
rope and  possessed  resources 
commensurate  with  hs  fertility,  it 
might  have  presented  the  aspect 
of  a  formidable  state,  were  there 
not  other  sources  of  weakness  in- 
separable from  its  very  existence. 
It  was  accessible  to  the  attacks  of 
powerful  neighbors,  to  whom  its 
resources  afforded  it  no  means  of 
offering  an  adequate  resistance. 

The  events  that  preceded  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  proved  that  its 
independent  sovereignty  was  no 
barrier  against  the  inroads  of  its 


southern  neighbor,  nor  could 
nluch  reliance  in  future  be  repos- 
ed in  the  extensive  fortifications 
which  formed  the  subject  of  spe- 
cial regulation  at  Vienna,  but 
which  would  be  found  a  very  in- 
adequate resistance  to  the  arms 
of  France  supported  by  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  Belgic  population. 
Not  only  are  the  ports  of  the 
Netherlands  within  a  few  hours' 
sail  of  the  English  coasts,  but 
their  northern  frontiers  touch  his 
Britannic  Majesty's  Kingdom  of 
Hanover.  On  the  side  of  Prus- 
sia, there  is  no  natural  boundary, 
and  what  was  effected  in  favor  of 
the  Stadtholder  in  1787  might  be 
again  repeated  in  furtherance  of 
the  interests  which  that  State 
might  hereafter  espouse. 

The  Netherlands  was  brought 
still  more  intimately  into  the  vor- 
tex of  European  politics  by  the 
alliances  contracted  beiween  the 
families  of  the  new  Sovereign  and 
of  the  neighboring  potentates. 
The  Queen  is  a  sister  of  the 
King  of  Prussia.  The  eldest  son 
of  the  King,  to  whom  the  title  of 
Prince  of  Orange  was  given, 
married  the  sister  of  the  late  and 
present  Emperor  of  Russia,  after 
the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Eng- 
land refused  his  hand.  The 
Prince  Frederick  and  the  Prin- 
cess Marianne  were  assigned  to 
members  of  the  royal  family  of 
Prussia. 

But  the  apprehension  of  for- 
eign aggression  was  of  little  con- 
sequence compared  with  the  ir- 
reconcileable  internal  dissensions 
which  prevailed  throughout  the 
whole  period  of  the  existence  of 
this  ephemeral  kingdom.  The 
most  important  of  these  were  to 


NETHERLANDS. 


be  attributed  to  the  discussions 
growing  out  of  the  pretensions  of 
the  Catholic  Clergy,  to  the  diver- 
sity of  views  between  the  North- 
ern and  Southern  Provinces  re- 
specting the  principles  of  com- 
mercial restriction,  and  to  the  un- 
due preponderance  given  to  the 
Dutch,  both  in  the  Legislative 
Councils  and  in  the  Executive 
Offices. 

Religion  was  supported  by  the 
State,  as  in  France,  by  payments 
out  of  the  public  treasury  to  Min- 
isters of  every  sect ;  but  though 
there  then  were  five  millions  four 
hundred  thousand  Catholics  and 
only  one  million  three  hundred 
thousand  Protestants,  it  was  men- 
tioned in  1818  as  an  instance  of 
the  unfairness  of  the  Legislative 
provisions,  that  the  former  re- 
ceived but  one  million  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  florins,  while  one 
million  three  hundred  thousand 
were  paid  to  the  latter. 

The  King  required,  from  the 
beginning  of  his  reign,  that  no  ap- 
plication should  be  made  to  the 
See  of  Rome  for  briefs  without 
his  permission,  and  various  other 
steps  were  taken  to  repress  the 
power  of  the  Belgian  Priests. 
In  1823  the  Catholic  Societies  at 
Brussels  and  Utrecht  were  sup- 
pressed as  dangerous  to  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity.  In  1825  the 
young  men  were  prohibited  from 
studying  out  of  the  Kingdom,  and 
a  College  of  Philosophy  was  es- 
tablished at  Louvain  for  those 
destined  to  the  Church.  Against 
this  measure  of  the  Government 
continued  protests  were  made, 
similar  to  those  which  had  been 
offered  to  the  General  Seminary 
formed  at  the  same  place  by  Jo- 
35 


seph  Second,  and  when,  in  1827, 
the  King  made  an  arrangement 
with  the  Pope,  he  was  obliged  to 
abandon  the  regulation,  rendering 
it  imperative  on  the  students  of 
theology  to  attend  the  public 
schools.  By  the  treaty  in  ques- 
tion, the  concordat  of  1801  with 
the  French  Government,  was  re- 
newed, and  soon  after  the  vacan- 
cies in  the  Bishoprics  were  sup- 
plied. 

We  find,  however,  down  to  the 
date  of  the  revolution,  complaints 
of  the  monopoly  of  public  instruc- 
tion, of  the  suppression  of  the 
minor  seminaries  and  of  the  ne- 
cessity imposed  on  fathers  o 
families  to  send  their  children  to 
the  colleges,  and  it  seems  most 
certain  that  with  the  mass  of  the 
people,  the  danger  apprehended 
for  the  church  was  far  more  co- 
gent in  inducing  resistance  to  the 
oppression  of  the  Government 
than  any  infraction  of  civil  rights 
could  have  been. 

The  cry  was  excited  that  the 
Government  wished  to  protestant- 
ize Belgium,  and  that  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  take  measures  to  pre- 
serve the  free  exercise  of  the 
Catholic  rites.  The  religious 
feelings  of  their  countrymen  were 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  popular 
leaders  and  M.  de  Potter,  who 
was  more  than  suspected  of  infi- 
delity, published,  in  1829,  a 
pamphlet  under  the  title  of  '  Un- 
ion des  Catholiques  and  des  Pro- 
testans,'  in  which  the  two  most 
opposite  factions,  the  parti  pretre 
and  parti  democrat  radical  were 
called  on  to  act  in  concert  —  a 
scheme  which  was  fully  accom- 
plished, and  thus  the  Romish 
Church  became,  what  it  was  in 


% 


406 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


Ireland,  the  ally  of  the  true  friends 
of  the  people.  The  annals  of 
the  Netherlands  are  almost  as  re- 
plete as  those  of  our  own  country 
with  discussions  on  free  trade  and 
the  restrictive  system.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  for  the  cause  of 
sound  philosophy,  the  questions 
there  as  here,  were  generally  de- 
cided, though  in  a  different  way, 
on  sectional  grounds,  without  leav- 
ing much  opportunity  for  dispas- 
sionate investigation.  The  agri- 
culturists and  manufacturers  of 
Belgium,  deprived  of  the  exten- 
sive home  market  which  their  in- 
corporation with  France  had  af- 
forded, called  loudly  on  the  Gov- 
ernment to  prohibit  the  introduc- 
tion of  all  corn  from  abroad  as 
well  as  the  importation  of  all  for- 
eign manufactures.  With  Hol- 
land on  the  other  hand,  commerce 
was  hardly  more  a  means  of  sub- 
sistence than  a  ruling  passion,  and 
no  shackles  on  trade  could  there- 
fore be  acceptable  to  the  coun- 
trymen of  the  King.  In  even  the 
minutest  details,  the  clashing  of 
opposite  interests  was  made  appa- 
rent. While  on  the  one  side  the 
system  of  transit  adopted  for  the 
Northern  Provinces  excited  the 
complaints  of  the  Belgic  manu- 
facturers, on  the  other,  the  taxes 
imposed  at  their  solicitation,  on 
the  importation  of  English  goods, 
removed  from  the  ports  of  Hol- 
land and  diverted  them  to  Ham- 
burg, from  whence  they  flowed 
into  Germany. 

The  use  of  the  language  of  the 
Netherlands  was  likewise  a  fruit- 
ful theme  of  dispute  between  the 
Government  and  its  southern  sub- 
jects. All  Belgians,  who  had  re- 
ceved  the  most  ordinary  educa- 


tion, were  capable  of  speaking 
French  with  more  ease  and  flu- 
ency than  the  original  language  of 
the  country,  which  differed  mate- 
rially, even  from  the  dialect  em- 
ployed in  Holland.  Assimilated 
to  tlie  French  by  a  hundred  ties, 
it  was  with  the  greatest  reluctance 
that  they  could  be  induced  to 
abandon  the  language  in  which 
was  to  be  found  the  literature  in 
which  they  delighted,  for  a  tongue 
which  they  deemed  barbarous  and 
which  constantly  reminded  them 
of  an  incorporation  with  a  people 
from  whom  they  were  completely 
estranged  by  feeling  and  interest. 

With  the  King,  however,  the 
establishment  of  a  national  char- 
acter was  a  favorite  measure.  He 
even  attempted  to  confound  the 
names  of  Holland  and  Belgium 
into  that  of  the  Netherlands. 

In  1819  a  royal  ordinance  ap- 
peared, requiring  the  use  of  the 
peculiar  language  of  the  country, 
viz.,  the  Dutch  or  Flemish,  in  all 
public  proceedings  and  by  the 
employes  of  the  Government. 
This  decree,  besides  having  in 
view  a  conformity  of  no  impor- 
tance, was  aimed  at  the  French 
functionaries,  who  had  become 
naturalized  at  the  organization  of 
the  new  government  but  whose 
supposed  partiality  rendered  them 
objects  of  suspicion  to  the  Dutch. 
To  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Southern  Provinces,  the  proposed 
change  was,  for  the  reasons  al- 
ready given,  an  extremely  un- 
popular measure.  This  law  was 
at  first  only  attempted  to  be  par- 
tially put  in  force  ;  but  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1822  a  new  ordinance 
was  published,  confirming  the 
previous  one  and  declaring  that  it 


NETHERLANDS. 


should  have  its  complete  execu- 
tion from  1st  of  January,  1823. 
It  was  found  necessary  subse- 
quently further  to  modify  the  pro- 
ject by  various  decrees ;  but  it 
was  not  till  after  the  revolution 
had  been  commenced  that  the 
King  ceased  his  harassing  efforts 
to  change  the  language  of  a  ma- 
jority of  his  people.  By  an  ordi- 
nance of  4ih  June,  1830,  all  the 
previous  policy  was  altered,  and 
every  one  authorized  to  use  the 
language  he  thought  proper.  It 
had  then,  however,  become  too 
late  for  concession  to  be  of  any 
avail. 

The  budget,  in  all  constitutional 
countries,  the  topic  on  which  to 
concentrate  the  opposition,  was  in 
the  Netherlands  the  foundation,  at 
every  session,  of  many  animated 
debates. 

It  was  not  so  much  the  amount 
of  the  taxes,  as  the  sources  from 
whence  they  were  derived,  and  the 
origin  of  the  debt  by  which  they 
were  occasioned,  that  bore  heavily 
on  the  population  of  the  Southern 
Provinces.  A  large  proportion 
of  this  debt,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
the  peculiar  charge  of  Holland 
and  of  the  several  Governments 
which  had  prevailed  in  that  coun- 
try. Tliis  was  place']  to  the  joint 
charge  of  the  whole  State,  but  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Southern 
were  twice  as  numerous  as  those 
of  the  Northern  Provinces,  two 
thirds  of  the  debts  of  the  latter 
were  defrayed  by  the  former; 
and  this  inequality  was  but  slight- 
ly counterbalanced  by  the  debt 
which  had  been  specially  placed 
on  her  Provinces  in  the  Low 
Countries  by  Austria,  and  which 


407 

she  exacted  from  the  new  King- 
dom at  its  establishment. 

In  the  nature  of  the  taxation, 
also,  the  agricultural  and  manufac- 
turing Belgians  had  no  means  of 
competing  with  the  Dutch.  The 
equal  representation  from  the 
North,  with  the  functionaries  who 
of  course  voted  according  to  the 
views  of  the  Court,  by  whom  the 
members  of  the  first  Chamber 
were  also  appointed,  placed  mill- 
ions at  the  disposition  of  Van 
Maanen  and  his  associates. 

The  financial  system  of  the 
Netherlands  was  somewhat  pecu- 
liar. Instead  of  submitting  all  the 
appropriations  to  the  annual  con- 
sideration of  the  Chambers,  the 
mass  of  them  were  voted  for  ten 
years ;  thus  by  the  decennial 
budget  presented  in  1830,  sixty 
millions  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  florins  (twenty  millions 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars)  were  demanded,  while 
the  annual  budget  of  that  year 
was  only  seventeen  millions  fifty 
thousand  florins  (five  millions  six 
hundred  and  eightythree  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirtythree  dol- 
lars) ;  and  as  in  the  very  first 
discussions  after  the  establishment 
of  the  Government,  the  opposition 
of  the  Southern  Provinces  was 
brought  to  bear  on  this  subject, 
the  efforts  of  the  administration 
were  directed  to  placing  as 
many  articles  as  possible  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  contingen- 
cy of  the  Ministry,  being  in  the 
minority,  while  the  arrangements 
as  to  the  debt  were  so  extremely 
artificial  and  intricate  as  to  elude 
all  ordinary  investigations.  But 
as  representatives  will  generally 


403 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  — 30. 


grant  for  a  short  period  what  they 
would  withhold  if  asked  for  an 
indefinite  time,  whenever  these 
debates  did  take  place  they  from 
their  very  infrequency,  caused 
comparatively  greater  excitement ; 
and  in  1830  the  legislature  did 
really  exert  a  constitutional  pov/- 
er,  which  is  generally  considered 
a  mere  matter  2w  terrorem,  and  at 
one  time  refused  the  ordinary 
supplies. 

It  was  therefore  deemed  ne- 
cessary to  employ  the  whole  pa- 
tronage of  Government  to  carry 
on  its  measures.  In  effecting 
this,  the  King  resorted  to  acts, 
which  however  familiar  they  may 
be  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  accustomed,  as  we  are,  to 
see  public  functionaries  servilely 
submissive  to  the  will  of  their  of- 
icial  superiors,  could  not  be  en- 
dured by  the  subjects  of  this  mon- 
archical State.  Several  of  the 
members  of  the  second  Chamber 
happened  to  hold  offices  under 
the  Government ;  but  deeming- 
their  obligation  to  their  country 
paramount  to  those  which  they 
owed  their  party,  they  voted  in 
one  of  the  last  sessions,  against 
the  administration  and  were  forth- 
with, by  the  advice  of  Van 
Maanen  and  his  associates,  re- 
moved from  the  public  employ. 
This  was  deemed  an  assault  on 
the  chartered  rights  of  the  people  ; 
and  such  was  the  indignation  of 
their  fellow  citizens,  that  the 
proposition  of  M.  de  Potter  to 
raise  a  fund  to  idemnify  those 
who  had  suffered  for  the  assertion 
of  their  principles,  was  received 
with  enthusiasm. 

M.  de  Potter,  to  whom  we  have 
just  referred,  and  who  was  des- 


tined to  become  so  celebrated  in 
the  revolutionary  history  of  his 
country,  had  been  previously  dis- 
tinguished for  his  literary  reputa- 
tion and  by  his  publications 
against  the  Dutch  administration. 
At  the  lime  when  the  proposition, 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  was 
made,  Mr  Potter  was  in  confine- 
ment, having  been  sentenced,  for 
a  former  libel  on  the  Government, 
to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment 
and  to  the  payment  of  one  thou- 
sand florins.  Though  he  wrote 
from  his  dungeon,  his  situation 
did  not  relieve  him  from  any  re- 
sponsibility, but  was  arraigned  in 
the  spring  of  1830,  with  Mr 
Tielmans,  a  public  functionary  in 
the  department  of  Foreign  Affairs 
and  the  publisher  *^of  Courrier 
des  Pays-Bas,  on  the  charge  of 
an  attempt  to  destroy  the  Gov- 
ernment :  his  trial  was  profractrd 
though  the  greater  part  of  tlje 
month  of  April.  The  evidence 
on  which  these  persons  were  con- 
victed, was  principally  written 
documents.  Though  all  the  pre- 
liminary examinations  were  in  se- 
cret, such  was  the  popular  senti- 
ment in  their  favor,  that  it  is  not 
probable  any  conviction  would 
have  taken  place,  had  juries  in 
criminal  cases  been  retained  in 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  Nether- 
lands. The  sentence,  however, 
of  the  tribunals  condemned  M. 
de  Potter  to  eight  and  M.  de 
Tielmans  to  seven  years'  banish- 
ment. It  had,  indeed,  been  at 
first  intended  to  proceed  against 
them  for  a  capital  offence. 

The  law  on  which  the  first  pro- 
secution against  M.  de  Potter  was 
carried  on  was  adopted  for  spe- 
cial purposes,  about  the  epoch  of 


NETHERLANDS. 


409 


Napoleon's  return  from  Elba,  and 
was  never  intended  for  times  of 
ordinary  tranquillity.  It  was  only 
by  implication  applicable  to  libels. 
This  was  admitted  by  the  Min- 
istry, who,  indirectly  censuring 
the  existing  enactments,  proposed, 
early  in  the  session  of  1 829,  a 
new  law  on  the  press.  But  noth- 
ing was  done  towards  remitting 
the  sentences  of  those  who  had 
been  convicted  under  the  old  sys- 
tem,including  M.  de  Potter.  This 
individual,  against  whom  the  Min- 
isterial vengeance  was  principally 
directed,  soon  had,  however,  am- 
ple occasion  to  triumph  over  his 
former  enemies,  as  will  abundant- 
ly appear  in  the  sequel. 

Before  the  period  of  revenge, 
he,  with  Mr  Tielmans  and  his 
other  associates,  were  obliged, 
having  appealed  in  vain  to  the 
Court  of  Cassation,  to  repair,  in 
consequence  of  the  sentence  of 
April,  1830,  to  the  mountains  of 
Switzerland.  From  the  territo- 
ries of  most  of  the  Sovereigns  of 
Europe,  they  were  kept,  by  the 
fear,  which  generally  prevailed,  of 
the  contagious  effect  of  their  revo- 
lutionary principles. 

At  the  session  of  1829,  the 
King  introduced  into  his  annual 
message,  the  discussion  of  a  ques- 
tion which  had  Ions;  been  mooted 
between  him  and  his  legislature. 
We  refer  to  Ministerial  responsi- 
bility. 

Sensible  that  the  very  moment 
it  is  recognised  as  a  constitutional 
doctrine,  that  the  King  can  do  no 
wrong,  he  becomes  a  mere  pa- 
geant. The  Sovereign  of  the  Neth- 
erlands had  ever  contended  against 
the  admission  of  the  principle,  and 
had,  in  violation  of  what  in  Eng- 
35* 


land  and  France  would  be  deem- 
ed the  sacred  rights  of  the  legisla- 
ture, repeatedly  urged  his  Min- 
isters to  declare  to  the  Chambers, 
that  the  measures  under  consid- 
eration had  received  the  express 
approval  of  his  Majesty.  In  the 
message  alluded  to,  the  King 
says  :  '  If  we  examine  what  is 
called  ministerial  responsibility,  of 
which  it  is  more  difficult  to  deter- 
mine the  true  sense  than  the  real 
object  ;  if  we  consider  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  fundamental  law, 
which  not  only  submits  exclusive- 
ly to  our  judgment  and  our  decis- 
ion all  the  regulations  of  the  ad- 
ministration, but  which  likewise 
abandons  to  us  the  nature  of  the 
obligations  which  it  pleases  us  to 
impose  on  the  chiefs  of  the  De- 
partments, and  which  binds  them 
to  us  by  oaths,  we  think  for  the 
preservation  of  our  political  insti 
tutions,  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  power  which  has  been  con- 
fided to  us,  for  the  lasting  protec- 
tion of  the  interests  of  our  well 
beloved  subjects,  that  we  cannot 
listen  to  any  other  responsibility 
of  our  Ministers  than  to  that  which, 
besides  their  duty  to  us,  has  been 
determined  for  them  by  the  fun- 
damental and  other  existing  laws  ; 
and  in  the  constitutional  existence 
of  the  council  of  State  according 
to  the  principle,  that  it,  and  not 
the  single  chief  of  a  ministerial 
department  ought  to  be  heard,  we 
find  not  only  the  exclusion  of  the 
idea  of  ministerial  responsibility, 
but  we  see  in  it,  moreover,  for 
the  people  of  the  Netherlands  a 
still  greater  guarantee  that  their 
interests  shall  be  suitably  examin- 
ed before  anything  is  decided  on. 
'  The  introduction  of  the  con- 


410 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


templated  ministerial  responsibili- 
ty, before  the  two  Chambers  of 
which  the  States  General  are 
composed  and  before  the  judicial 
power  would  transfer,  contrary  to 
the  fundamental  law,  the  exercise 
of  the  royal  power  into  other 
hands  without  giving  to  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people  a  new  guaran- 
tee —  a  real  guarantee  ;  for  what- 
ever description  of  persons  may 
be  called  on  to  judge  the  acts 
of  the  Ministers,  salutary  fruits 
cannot  be  collected  from  such 
a  judgment,  unless  those  to 
whom  an  account  is  to  be  render- 
ed are  placed  without  the  ranks 
of  the  society,  and  consequently 
above  the  passions  of  the  vulgar. 
The  Netherlands  do  not  in  this 
respect  resemble  other  countries, 
where  it  has  been  possible  to  in- 
troduce ministerial  responsibility 
without  inconvenience,  and  as  an 
attendant  on  circumstances  alto- 
gether foreign  to  those  of  this 
Kingdom.' 

It  was  in  accordance  with  these 
principles,  th^t  by  a  decn^e  ren- 
dered on  23d  January,  1830,  the 
Ministers  were  directed  to  take 
part  in  all  the  discussions  of  the 
central  committees  of  the  two 
Chambers,  to  give  their  views  to 
them  either  verbally  or  in  writing, 
and  to  report  to  the  King  in  order 
that  he  might  make  such  changes 
in  the  projects  of  laws,  before 
they  were  decided  on,  as  he  might 
under  the  circumstances,  deem 
expedient. 

In  the  session  of  1830,  Minis- 
ters were  defeated  on  all  points. 
Besides  the  financial  discussions 
in  which  they  were  unsuccessful, 
ihey  were  obliged  to  withdraw  the 
law  on  public  instruction.  The 
^proDOsition  of  a  new  sedition  act 


as  to  the  King  and  royal  family, 
as  well  as  the  application  of  M. 
de  Potter  and  his  associates  re- 
specting the  publication  of  their 
private  correspondence,  which 
had,  on  their  trial,  been  placed  in 
the  custody  of  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice, brought  up  the  subject  of  the 
hberty  of  the  press.  A  new  law 
on  this  agitating  topic  was  pressed, 
though  not  till  the  Ministers  were 
obliged  to  nr<\ke  many  alterations 
in  it.  The  King  in  his  conclud- 
ing message  observed  that,  '  By 
the  maintenance  of  the  liberty  of 
the  press  your  high  mightinesses 
have  united  yourselves  to  the 
Government  for  the  suppression 
of  injustice  and  calumny,  the  im- 
pure union  of  which  degrades  and 
debases  this  constitutional  means 
of  propagating  knowledge  and  fa- 
voring the  difiusion  of  intellgence. 

The  decennial  budget  was  ulti- 
mately passed,  and  the  States 
General  closed  their  ordinary  ses- 
sion on  the  second  of  June. 

The  ensuing  month,  as  is  else- 
where recorded,  was  distinguish- 
ed by  a  Revolution  in  France, 
leading  lo  the  expulsion  of  the  el- 
der branch  of  the  Bourbon  family 
from  the  throne  of  that  Kingdom. 

On  the  26th  August,  the  ex- 
ample of  the  working-men  of  Pa- 
ris was  followed  by  the  same  class 
of  persons  at  Brussels.  The  old 
Brabant  flag  was  hoisted,  and  the 
people  evinced  their  feelings  by 
sacking  the  hotel  of  M.  de  Van 
Maanen  and  of  others  who  had 
rendered  themselves  obnoxious  to 
their  indignation. 

The  demands  of  the  Belgians, 
as  first  announced  at  Brussels, 
were  the  frank  and  sincere  execu- 
tion of  the  fundamental  law,  with- 
out restriction  or  interpretation  in 


NETHERLANDS. 


411 


favor  of  power,  the  removal  of  M. 
Van  Maanen,  a  new  electoral 
system  established  by  law,  or  the 
more  direct  election  by  the  people, 
the  establishment  of  the  jury,  a 
new  law  respecting  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  judiciary,  the  penal  re- 
sponsibility of  the  Ministers  to  be 
established  by  law,  a  law  to  be 
enacted  fixing  the  seat  of  the 
high  court  (which  had  been  plac- 
ed at  the  Hague)  in  the  South- 
ern Provinces,  the  cessation  of 
the  prosecutions  against  the  hber- 
al  writers,  the  abrogation  of  all 
condemnations  for  political  offen- 
ces. 

These  reclamations  were,  how- 
ever, soon  followed  by  a  propo- 
sition for  the  separation  of  Belgi- 
um from  Holland.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  formed 
11th  September,  were  specially 
charged  —  1st,  with  securing  the 
maintenance  ol  the  dynasty  :  2d, 
maintaining  the  principle  of  the 
separation  of  the  North  from  the 
South  :  3d,  to  take  the  necessary 
measures  for  the  interests  of  com- 
merce, industry,  and  public  order. 

The  States  General  met  on 
12th  September :  the  King,  in 
his  address  to  them,  thus  noticed 
the  recent  revolutionary  move- 
ments :  '  in  the  midst  of  the  great- 
est tranquillity  and  prosperity  a 
revolt  suddenly  breaks  out  at 
Brussels,  and  this  example  is  imi- 
tated in  some  other  places.  Con- 
flagrations and  pillage  marked 
these  disorders,  too  afflicting  for 
my  heart,  the  nation,  and  humani- 
ty, for  me  to  present  the  mournful 
picture  of  them  to  this  assembly. 
The  measures,  so  far  as  they 
depended  on  the  Government  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil,  to 


protect  the  good  citizens  against 
the  evil  disposed  and  to  avert 
from  the  Kingdom  the  scourge  of 
civil  war,  have  been  adopted 
without  delay.'  He  then  inti- 
mates that  a  separation  of  the 
Provinces,  which  the  constitution 
and  fundamental  law  had  united, 
might  become  necessary,  and  on 
the  13th  the  King  proposed  for  the 
discussion  of  the  Chambers  the 
two  following  questions :  first., 
whether  experience  has  ii"t,dicated 
the  necessity  of  modifying  the  na- 
tional institutions :  Second,  wheth- 
er it  is  consistent  with  the  general 
good  to  change  what  is  established 
by  treaties  and  the  fundamental 
law  between  the  two  great  divis- 
ions of  the  Kingdom. 

The  Deputies  from  Belgium, 
at  first,  appeared  in  the  assembly^; 
but  they  were  insulted  by  the 
people  of  the  Hague  and  ultimate- 
ly withdrew. 

The  King  determined  to  use 
force  towards  his  refractory  sub- 
jects ;  and  on  2 1st  of  September 
a  proclamation  was  issued  from 
Antwerp  by  Prince  Frederick  for 
the  occupation  of  Brussels,  where 
a  Provisional  Government  had 
been  organized,  consisting  of 
Messrs  Vanderlinden,  d'Hoog- 
voorst,  Ch.  Rogier,  Felix  de 
Merode,  Juan  Van  Halen,  a 
native  of  Spain,  who  had  been 
distinguished  for  his  remarkable 
escape  from  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion, and  had  served  in  the  army 
of  Russia,  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  military  force. 

On  the  22d  September,  Prince 
Frederick  marched  on  Brussels. 
On  the  24th,  25th,  and  26th  there 
was  most  terrible  carnage  in  the 
streets;  the  houses,   &£c,  were 


112 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30 


several  times  taken  and  retaken. 
The  Dutch  army  evacuated  the 
Belgic  capital  on  the  27th,  having 
sustained  a  loss  of  3000  out  of 
the  9,500  men,  who  had  taken 
part  in  the  expedition. 

On  the  16th  October,  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  been 
made  Governor  General  of  the 
Southern  Provinces,  acknowledg- 
ed the  independence  of  Belgium 
by  a  proclamation  from  Antwerp, 
in  which  he  authorizes,  even  in 
those  places  where  he  still  retain- 
ed the  ascendency,  the  election  of 
members  to  the  national  Congress. 
This  attempt,  however,  of  the 
heir  apparent  to  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  revolution  and 
thus  retain  in  the  royal  family  the 
most  important  portion  of  the 
Netherlands,  the  loss  of  which  was 
menaced  by  the  events  then  oc- 
curring, was  without  result. 

The  King,  in  his  message, 
opening  the  States  General  of  the 
Northern  Provinces,  on  the  19th, 
expresses  his  surprise  at  the  course 
pursued  by  his  son,  of  which  he 
seems  not  to  have  been  apprized. 

Duringthe  attack  of  the  Prince 
Frederick,  M.  de  Potter  returned 
to  Brussels,  where  he  was  receiv- 
ed with  triumphant  marks  of  con- 
fidence. He  was  subsequently 
installed  chief  of  the  Provisional 
Government. 

The  further  events  in  relation 
to  the  separation  of  Holland  and 
Belgium,  including  the  decision 
of  the  representatives  at  London 
of  the  Powers,  who  were  parties 
to  the  organization  of  the  King- 
dom of  the  Netherlands,  will 
properly  fall  within  the  scope  of 
our  next  volume,  in  which  it  will 
also  be  our  duty  to  detail  the 


measures  connected  with  the  es- 
tablishment of  Belgium  as  an  in- 
dependent sovereignty. 

In  closing  our  notice  of  the 
Netherlands,  to  which  we  shall 
never  again  be  permitted  to  allude, 
as  a  united  power,  it  may  not  be 
improper  to  mak'^  a  few  remarks 
respecting  tlie  King,  who  was 
destined  to  be  the  first  and  last 
Sovereign  of  this  creation  of  the 
Holy  Alliance. 

William  is  propably  the  most 
virtuous  Sovereign  in  Europe. 
His  honesty  is  quite  proverbial, 
and  though  he  never  gained  the 
affection  of  the  Belgians,  they 
never  refused  to  admit  his  integrity 
and  the  goodness  of  his  intentions. 
That  he  possessed  a  high  order 
of  intellect,  or  was  equal  to  the 
arduous  task  of  reconciling  the 
opposite  interests  of  the  two  divis- 
ions of  his  Kingdom,  no  one  will 
pretend.  His  great  faults  were 
those  of  his  nation,  whose  preju- 
dices he  seemed  to  have  imbibed. 
A  manifest  preference  was  given 
to  the  Dutch  in  the  public  employ- 
ments, and  there  was  too  evident 
an  indisposition  to  countenance 
the  Catholic  religion,  which  was 
embraced  by  at  least  two  thirds 
of  the  people.  As  an  adminis- 
trator, the  King,  even  if  he  did 
not  recognise  the  principle  of  the 
irresponsibility  of  the  Sovereign, 
should  have  confined  his  attention 
to  a  general  superintendence.  In- 
stead, however,  of  following  that 
system,  he  entered  into  the  minu- 
test inquiries  on  the  most  unim- 
portant matters  :  and  it  was  said 
that  no  question  occurring  at  a 
Custom  House  could  be  settled 
until  the  King  had  personally  ex- 
amined the  point.    The  Sove- 


NETHERLANDS. 


413 


reign  of  the  Netherlands  was  dis- 
tinguished for  the  readiness  by 
which  all  classes  of  his  subjects 
gained  access  to  him ;  but  so 
likewise  is  the  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria ;  and  in  a  constitutional  King 
such  qualities  are  perhaps  rather 
defects  than  virtues.  In  his  com- 
mercial operations  the  King  seem- 
ed actuated  by  that  love  of  trade 
in  which  the  burghers  of  Amster- 
dam so  much  delight ;  and  he 
was  actually  a  partner  in  several 
joint  stock  companies,  of  which 
he  was  the  originator. 

In  the  recent  decision  of  the 
controversy  on  the  North  eastern 
boundary,  referred  to  him  by  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
his  Netherlands  Majesty  has,  it  is 
certain,  fulfilled  the  expectations 
of  neither  party,  but  literally 
adopted  the  course  which  the  en- 
lightened negotiator,  to  whom 
the  subject  of  a  reference  was  once 
confided,  feared  might  be  adopt- 
ed to  our  prejudice.  He  seems 
really,  instead  of  taking  strict 
principles  of  law  for  his  guide,  to 
have  tried  '  to  split  the  difference.' 
To  suppose,  however,  that  even 
in  this  matter,  open  as  it  justly  is 
to  severe  animadversion,  the  King 


was  actuated  by  the  circumstances 
which  had  arisen  subsequently  to 
the  reference,  and  which  so  sen- 
sibly affected  the  independence 
of  his  position,  would  be  to  dis- 
regard the  reputation  universally 
enjoyed  by  the  unfortunate  mon- 
arch. A  knowledge  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  royal  umpire  would 
induce  us  to  ascribe  the  error  of 
his  decision  rather  to  the  head 
than  to  the  heart. 

But  it  is  certain  that  we  owe 
no  special  gratitude  to  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands.  To  say 
nothing  of  that  monarch's  refusal 
to  accede  to  the  commercial  reci- 
procity, proffered  by  us  to  all  na- 
tions, we  cannot  forget  that  our 
claims,  growing  out  of  the  arbi- 
trary measures  dictated  by  Napo- 
leon to  the  former  Government  of 
Holland,  and  which  were  clearly 
presented  to  view  in  the  able  cor- 
respondence of  Mr  A.  H.  Everett 
with  Baron  Nagele,  never  receiv- 
ed that  attention  which  they  pre- 
eminently merited  from  a  Sove- 
reign, who  of  all  others  had  reap- 
ed, though  indirectly,  the  greatest 
advantages  from  the  French  usur- 
pation. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE  PENINSULA. 


Spain.  —  Rumors.  —  Queen'' s  Death.  —  Public  Expectations. —-Ar- 
rival of  the  new  Qiieen.  —  Law  of  Succession.  —  Portugal. 


There  is  no  country,  whose 
domestic  condition  or  its  internal 
affairs  are  more  misrepresented 
than  those  of  Spain.  It  is  not 
merely  that  all  the  information, 
"which  we  derive  from  the  jour- 
nals of  Spain  itself,  is  of  a  suspi- 
cious nature,  as  having  heen  sub- 
jected to  the  examination  of  the 
local  authorities  before  publication, 
and  having  been  so  qualified  as 
to  meet  their  views,  or  at  any 
rate  prepared  and  printed  by  the 
journalist  with  the  terrors  of  the 
police  continually  before  his  eyes. 
This  cause  of  distrust  attaches  to 
intelligence  derived  from  the 
Spanish  gazettes,  in  common  with 
those  of  other  nations,  which  en- 
joy the  blessing  of  an  absolute 
government  and  a  shackled  press. 
Nor  is  it  owing  entirely  to  the 
jealous  policy  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  which  is  so  little  dis- 
posed to  court  the  scrutiny  of 
foreigners,  or  even  to  admit  of 
much  examination  on  the  part  of 
its  subjects  themselves.  Ourcur- 
rent  intelligence  in  regard  to  the 
affairs  of  Spain  is  generally  deriv- 
ed from  the  French  newspapers, 


and  consists  of  letters  written,  or 
purporting  to  be  written,  from 
persons  in  the  Peninsula.  These 
accounts  are  incorrect,  exagger- 
ated, and  mendacious,  to  a  degree 
of  which  those  unacquainted  with 
the  fact  can  have  no  conception. 
The  strange  absurdities  concern- 
ing the  state  of  things  in  Spain, 
which  made  their  appearance  soon 
after  the  French  revolution  of 
July,  were  a  tissue  of  such  down- 
right falsehoods,  affording  a  fair 
example  of  the  fact  to  which  we 
refer,  and  illustrating  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  authentic  information 
as  to  passing  events  in  that  coun- 
try. 

However,  the  period  of  time, 
which  our  historical  record  em- 
braces, was  one  of  great  tranquilli- 
ty ;  and  such  periods  are  barren 
of  matter  for  the  pen  of  the  annal- 
ist. It  was  not  the  less  fruitful  of 
rumors,  got  up  for  the  amusement 
of  the  cafes  of  Paris,  or  for  some 
other  less  innocent  purpose.  The 
earthquake,  which  filled  with 
misery  the  district  of  Orihuela  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Murcia,  was  suf- 
ficiently appalling  in  itself,  without 


SPAIN. 


415 


the  aid  of  any  artificial  amplifi- 
cation. But  when  the  news 
reached  us  filtered  through  the 
newspapers  of  Paris,  it  appeared 
that  all  Cadiz  had  been  submerg- 
ed, although  pains  were  taken,  it 
was  added,  to  conceal  the  dread- 
ful calamity,  by  which  so  many 
families  in  the  Kingdom  and  so 
many  abroad  would  incur  loss  and 
suffering,  through  the  merchants 
collected  from  various  regions 
in  that  rich  commercial  city.  Not 
much  more  credit  is  due  to  the 
statements,  so  often  repeated,  of 
troubles  in  Catalonia,  the  standing 
theatre  of  insurrection  for  the 
manufacturers  of  the  newest  news. 
Indeed,  if  we  except  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  Don  Miguel  by 
Spain  in  October,  1829,  hardly 
any  political  event  has  occurred 
to  invite  attention,  except  what 
relates  to  changes  in  the  royal 
family. 

The  King  of  Spain  lost  his  third 
consort  on  the  17th  of  May,  1829. 
Like  her  two  predecessors  she 
died  suddenly,  in  the  flower  of 
her  age,  without  children.  A 
treaty  of  marriage  was  very  soon 
after  entered  into  between  Ferdi- 
nand, and  his  niece  Maria  Cristi- 
na  de  Borbon,  daughter  of  Fran- 
cis, King  of  Naples,  and  half  sis- 
ter of  the  Duchesse  de  Berri,  and 
at  this  time  twentythree  years  of 
age.  The  large  number  of  Span- 
iards, who  are  exiles  in  foreign 
lands,  or,  if  not  banished,  yet  are 
languishing  at  home  as  impurifica- 
dos,  or  men  laboring  under  civil 
disabilities  on  account  of  their 
opinions  or  conduct  in  political 
affairs,  looked  forward  to  the  in- 
tended espousals  as  affording 
them  a  hope  of  restoration  to 


their  country,  of  pardon,  and  of 

readmission  to  the  career  of  dis- 
tinction in  public  service.  They 
anticipated  an  act  of  grace  and 
indulgence  as  highly  likely  to  ac- 
company so  auspicious  an  event, 
and  as  being,  in  fact,  a  natural  in- 
gredient of  the  rejoicings  and  pub- 
lic hilarity  of  the  nation.  They 
conceived,  also,  that  they  had 
some  reason  to  expect  this  from 
the  lively  and  amiable  character 
of  the  new  Queen,  and  her  sup- 
posed indisposition  to  submit  to 
the  influence  of  the  priesthood  to 
the  same  extent  with  her  prede- 
cessor, whose  life  was  wholly 
given  up  to  rigid  ascetic  observ- 
ances. 

In  another  important  point  of 
view,  the  anticipated  marriage 
was  connected  with  political  sub- 
jects. The  Infante  Don  Carlos, 
the  eldest  brother  of  Ferdinand 
and  presumptive  heir  of  the  Crown, 
was,  either  in  reality  or  in  suppo- 
sition, the  rallying  point  of  the 
apostolical  party.  Whatever  de- 
fects of  character  Ferdinand  may 
possess  they  are  traits  of  weakness 
rather  than  of  cruelty.  The  bit- 
terness of  political  hostility  has 
diffused  very  erroneous  impres- 
sions in  regard  to  this  prince.  In- 
stead of  being  the  fierce,  bigoted, 
brutal  tyrant,  which  some  publi- 
cations have  represented  him  to 
be,  he  is  unquestionably  disposed 
to  pursue  as  gentle  a  policy,  in 
the  management  of  his  Kingdom, 
as  the  maintenance  of  his  authori- 
ty will  admit.  Nothing  but  the 
opposition  of  the  Sovereign  him- 
self has  prevented  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  Holy  Office  in 
Spain.  Since  the  occupation  of 
the  country  by  the  French  armies 


416  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


in  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII., 

more  disturbances  and  insurrec- 
tions have  arisen  from  the  abso- 
lutists, eager  to  push  the  Govern- 
ment on  to  greater  violence  and 
intolerance,  than  from  the  perse- 
cuted friends  of  the  Constitution. 
At  the  present  time,  it  can  hardly 
be  affirmed  that  any  liberal  party 
exists  among  the  Spaniards.  The 
sword,  the  scaffold,  exile,  the 
dungeon,  have  done  their  work 
upon  the  unhappy  Constitution- 
alists, until  few  remain  upon  their 
native  soil,  bold  enough  to  move 
in  any  scheme  of  reform  or  liberty. 
T  heir  bravest  and  best  have  per- 
ished, or  now  waste  their  energies 
in  the  obscure  sufferings  of  pro- 
tracted banishment,  in  the  heart- 
sickness  of  hope  deferred  ;  and 
what  can  be  hoped  from  the  dis- 
heartened and  persecuted  men, 
who  have  just  escaped  the  worst 
punishment  of  unsuccessful  re- 
bellion ?  In  Spain,  therefore, 
there  is  no  question  except  be- 
tween more  or  less  liberal  mem- 
bers of  the  absolutist  party,  and  it 
is  to  the  former  rather  than  the 
latter  division  that  the  wishes  of 
the  King  are  believed  to  lean, 
while  Don  Carlos  favors  the  apos- 
tolical or  ulti  a  section  of  the  ene- 
mies of  free  institutions .  Of  course, 
that  portion  of  the  Spanish  nation, 
which  deprecates  the  blind  vio- 
lence of  the  apostolicals,  looks  to 
the  continuance  of  the  sceptre,  in 
the  hands  of  Ferdinand  as  prefer- 
able to  its  transfer  to  Carlos,  and 
has  anxiously  desired  the  birth 
of  a  Prince  of  the  Asturias  to 
give  succession  to  the  elder  line. 

In  addition  to  these  circum- 
stances, so  much  calculated  to 
attach  interest  to  the  arrival  of 


Maria  Cristina  in  Spain,  it  is  to 
be  observed  that  her  parents,  the 
King  and  Queen  of  the  Two  Si- 
cilies, the  latter  herself  an  Infanta 
of  Spain,  were  to  accompany  the 
new  Queen  to  Madrid.  They 
came  from  Naples  by  the  South 
of  France,  and  crossing  the  Py- 
renees proceeded  through  Bar- 
celona and  Valencia  to  Madrid. 
Catalonia  was  ruled  at  this  time 
with  a  rod  of  iron  by  the  Conde 
de  Espana,  Captain  General  ofthe 
province,  and  one  of  the  sternest 
agents  of  absolutism  in  Spain. 
The  numerous  individuals  in  Bar- 
celona, who  suffered  on  account 
of  opinions,  crowded  around  the 
path  of  the  young  Queen,  to  swell 
her  welcome  with  their  acclama- 
tions, promising  themselves  her  aid 
in  making  their  peace  with  the  king. 
Similar  gratulation  attended  her 
in  other  parts  of  her  progress  on- 
wards, and  on  her  arrival  in  the 
court  of  Madrid  itself,  —  her  en- 
tire journey  being  one  long  unin- 
terrupted ovation.  The  impuri- 
ficados  continued  to  the  last  to 
hope  and  expect  the  most  agreea- 
ble results  from  the  marriage, 
although  without  any  very  specific 
grounds  of  encouragement. 

The  Queen  reached  Aranjuez 
on  the  8th  of  December.  She 
was  received  there  by  the  Infan- 
tes, Don  Carlos  and  Don  Fran- 
cisco, the  former  of  whom  had 
authority  to  enter  into  the  con- 
tract of  marriage  as  proxy  for  the 
King.  On  the  11th  she  entered 
Madrid,  amid  all  the  rejoicings  so 
peculiar  to  the  Spanish  people. 
The  King  and  Queen  of  Naples 
and  their  daughter  were  attended 
by  a  brilliant  cortege  of  the  pub- 
lic authorities  and  troops  from  the 


SPAIN. 


417 


gate  of  Atocha,  by  which  they 
entered  Madrid,  to  the  Palace  at 
the  other  extremity  of  the  city. 
Ferdinand  and  his  two  brothers 
rode  on  horseback  by  the  side  of 
the  coach  which  contained  the 
young  Queen,  with  the  manolos 
of  Madrid  dancing  the  fantastic 
mogiganga  before  them  through 
the  principal  streets,  every  house 
being  ornamented  with  brilliant 
hangings  suspended  from  the  bal- 
conies, and  every  avenue  and 
window  full  of  the  multitudes  of 
admiring  spectators.  The  con- 
tract of  marriage  was  subscribed 
by  the  royal  parties  in  person  that 
evening,  and  the  next  day  the 
religious  ceremony  of  the?;e/«cto/i 
was  solemnized  in  the  convent  of 
Atocha.  Splendid  illuminations, 
with  bull  fights  and  theatrical  rep- 
resentations prepared  for  the  oc- 
casion, completed  the  rejoicings 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Madrid. 

Meanwhile  no  act  of  amnesty 
made  its  appearance.  The 
Duque  de  Frias  and  some  other 
principal  grandees,  who  had  been 
living  under  a  kind  of  general  dis- 
trust on  account  of  their  liberal 
opinions,  embraced  this  occasion 
to  offer  their  congratulations,  and 
to  propitiate  the  good  will  of  the 
King,  It  was  whispered  that 
Ferdinand  himself  proposed  that 
the  healing  measure,  which  the 
popular  sentiment  called  for, 
should  be  frankly  accorded.  He 
countenanced  the  public  expecta- 
tions by  some  unequivocal  acts 
emanating  from  himself.  Thus 
he  invited  the  venerable  and  ami- 
able Don  ManuelJosef Quintana, 
who,  like  every  other  ardent  friend 
of  letters,  had  favored  the  cause 
of  the  Constitution  and  had  been 
36 


since  frowned  upon  by  the  Court, 
to  write  an  epithalamium,  and 
liberally  recompensed  the  poet  for 
his  performance.  But  the  rep- 
resentations of  Senor  Calomarde, 
the  Minister  of  Grace  and  Jus- 
tice and  all  powerful  delegate 
of  the  apostolical  party  in  the 
Cabinet,  overcame  the  better  in- 
tentions of  the  King,  and  prevent- 
ed his  recovering  the  forfeited 
tide  of  amado  Fernando^  which 
the  war  of  independence  had  con- 
secrated. Only  a  few  scanty  fa- 
vors were  dealt  out  to  individuals, 
who  like  the  Conde  de  Cartage- 
na, Don  Pablo  Morillo,  bore  the 
stigma  of  royal  reprobation  after 
having  served  their  country  but 
too  faithfully  and  zealously. 

The  King  and  Queen  of  Na- 
ples continued  in  Spain  during 
part  of  the  winter  of  1 829  and 
1830,  partaking  of  the  festivities 
of  the  court  of  Madrid,  after 
which  they  returned  home  again 
by  the  way  of  France.  If  the 
treasure  expended  in  this  costly 
royal  progress  had  been  appro- 
priated towards  the  payment  of 
certain  of  the  just  debts  of  Na- 
ples, which  she  has  so  long  plead- 
ed poverty  as  an  excuse  for  not 
discharging,  it  would  have  spoken 
better  for  the  justice  and  honesty 
of  King  Francis. 

The  promise  of  offspring  by  his 
Queen  was  hailed  by  Ferdinand 
with  peculiar  joy,  in  consideration 
of  the  long  disappointment  of  his 
wishes  in  this  respect.  He  took 
occasion  from  this  circumstance 
to  revive  the  ancient  constitution 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy  in  re-- 
gard  to  succession.  When  Phil- 
ip of  Anjou  became  King  of 
Spain,  among  other  violent  chang- 


418 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


es  in  the  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try, he  saw  fit  to  introduce  the 
Salic  law  of  his  own  family,  in 
derogation  of  the  rules  of  descent 
which  had  elevated  himself  to 
the  throne,  and  which  had  always 
obtained  in  the  States  of  Castille. 
In  anticipation  of  the  possibility 
that  the  unborn  infant  might  prove 
a  daughter,  and  that  no  male  off- 
spring might  be  granted  to  his 
prayers,  Ferdinand,  in  the  plen- 
itude of  the  legislative  authority  of 
absolutism,  repealed  the  Salic  law 
of  Philip  V.  and  restored  the 
rules  of  succession  of  the  Gothic 
and  Austrian  lines,  which  de- 
volve the  descent  upon  female, 
in  default  of  male  heirs.  The 
result  justified  the  forethought  of 
the  King,  as  the  child  proved  to 
be  a  daughter,  who  now  therefore 
has  claims  to  the  Crown  adverse 
to  those  of  Don  Carlos. 

We  defer  to  another  year  the 
history  of  events  in  Portugal. 
They  chiefly  consist  of  the  tyran- 
nical vagaries  of  the  usurper  Mi- 
guel, who,  although  acknowledg- 
ed during  the  year  by  Spain  and 
the  United  States,  did  not  obtain 
the  countenance  of  the  great  pow- 


ers generally.   Mnch  speculation 
was  occasioned  abroad  by  the  fact 
of  the  recognition  of  Don  Miguel 
by  the  United  States.  These  things 
depend  so   entirely   in  Europe 
upon  selfish    considerations  of 
family,  or  artificial  combinations 
to  preserve  the  balance  of  power, 
or  d  blind  submission  of  all  other 
questions  to  the  single  one  of  le- 
gitimacy or  constitutionalism,  that 
no  stable  or  consistent  principle  of 
recognition  there  prevails.  Hence 
it  is  that  Europeans  are  slow  to 
comprehend  the  principle,  which 
ies  at  the  foundation  of  our  for- 
eign intercourse,  of  holding  friend- 
ly relations  with  every  other  es- 
tablished  government,  without 
scrutinizing  the  casuistical  points 
of  right,  which  the  government 
may  put  forward  to  justify  its  own 
existence.    It  is  sufficient  for  us 
as  a  government,  to  know  that  the 
sceptre  of  Miguel  is  received  by 
the  Portuguese  themselves.  As 
men  and  Christians,  we  trust  no 
European  will  exceed  us  in  rep- 
robation of  his  character  and  con  - 
duct,  or  in  solicitude  that  better 
rulers  and  better  days  may  be 
given  for  unhappy  Portugal. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


ENGLAND. 


Retrospective  View  of  the  Settlement  of  the  Catholic  question  in  1829. 
— Its  Consequences.  — Its  essential  connexion  with  other  projects  of 
Reform,  especially  of  the  Representation  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. —  Meeting  of  Parliament,  February,  1830.  —  Debates  on 
the  Addresses  in  answer  to  the  Speech  from  the  Throne.  —  Uni- 
versal  Distress  of  the  Country.  —  Amendments  to  the  Addresses 
proposed ;  rejected.  —  Amendment  moved  by  Lord  King.  —  Re- 
duction and  Substitution  of  Taxes.  —  Parliamentary  Reform.  — 
Affairs  of  India.  —  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Greece.  •—  Portugal.  — 
Death  of  George  IV.  —  Notices  of  his  Life  and  Character.  — 
Accession  of  William  IV.  —  Notices  of  his  previous  Life.  —  Dis- 
solution of  Parliament.  —  Meeting  of  the  new  Parliament.  — 
Declaration  oj  the  DuJce  of  Wellington  against  Parliamentary 
Reform. — ■  Threatened  Riots  in  London.  — Postponement  of  tlie 
Royal  Banquet  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day.  —  Civil  List.  —  Motion 
for  Inquiry  carried  against  the  Ministers.  —  They  resign.  — 
New  Ministry.  —  Earl  Grey  Premier.  —  Reform.  —  Riots  and 
Disturbances  in  the  Country. 


The  most  prominent  event  of 
the  year  1829  in  the  history  of 
Great  Britain  was  the  Revolution, 
for  so  it  might  justly  be  denomi- 
nated, in  the  religious  establish- 
ment of  the  country.  By  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  and  the  sub- 
sequent acts  of  Parliament  for 
the  settlement  of  the  Crown,  the 
Protestant  Religion  had  been  in- 
corporated into  the  political  con- 
stitution of  the  Slate.    Not  only 


and  even  Christianity  itself  in  any 
other  than  these  privileged  forms 
of  worship  were  not  only  excluded 
from  all  countenance  and  support, 
but  prohibited  by  penalties,  per- 
secuted by  disabilities,  or  at  best 
partially  exempted  from  proscrip- 
tions by  an  oppressive  and  inso- 
lent toleration.  Since  their  civil 
wars  of  the  17th  century,  the  Brit- 
ish nation,  mistaking  the  expulsion 
of  tyrants  for  the  establishment  of 


the  succession  to  the  Crown,  but    liberty,  had  fancied  themselves 


the  enjoyment  of  almost  all  politi- 
cal rights  by  individuals  was  ex- 
clusively confined  to  sectarians  of 
the  Church  of  England,  or  of  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  ;  and  while 
the  whole  people  were  heavily 
taxed  for  the  support  of  ecclesi- 
astical institutions  of  those  de- 
nominations, all  other  religions. 


free,  and  had  accustomed  them- 
selves to  the  pride  of  freedom. 
They  had  cast  off  the  spiritual  do- 
minion of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  the  hereditary  misrule  of  the 
Stuarts.  But  in  breaking  their 
own  fetters  they  had  riveted  them 
upon  others.  For  a  tyrannical 
Church  of  Rome  they  had  only 


420 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30; 


substituted  a  tyrannical  Churcli  of 
England.  The  Protestant  refor- 
mation had  so  far  prevailed  among 
the  people  in  the  island  of  Great 
Britain,  that  the  adherents  to  the 
Romish  faith  were  there  left  in  a 
small  minority  ;  but  the  combined 
rigor  of  Church  and  State  weigh- 
ed with  equal  severity  upon  large 
bodies  of  dissenters  from  the  legal 
establishment:  and  in  Ireland, 
where  a  great  majority  of  the 
people  had  retained  their  allegi- 
ance to  the  Pope,  and  their  devo- 
tion to  the  Catholic  creeds,  the 
British  laws  for  the  establishment 
of  the  Protestant  faith  and  the 
maintenance  of  \he  Protestant 
succession,  were  engines  not  of 
freedom  but  of  the  most  odious 
oppression. 

During  a  long  series  of  years 
there  had  been  a  succession  of 
struggles  by  the  sufferers  under 
this  tyranny,  assisted  by  the  more 
tdisinterested  efforts  of  the  friends 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  to 
cast  off  this  galling  yoke,  and  to 
recover  the  natural  right  of  wor- 
shipping God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 
The  greatest  of  all  the  obstacles 
in  their  way  was  that  the  mainte- 
nance exclusively  of  the  Church  of 
England  and  of  the  Kirk  of  Scot- 
land had  been  incorporated  in  the 
coronation  oath  of  the  British 
King.  In  the  deeply  conscien- 
tious mind  of  George  the  Third, 
the  question  of  Catholic  emanci- 
pation was  not  a  question  of  po- 
litical expediency,  nor  of  tolera- 
tion, nor  of  justice,  but  of  fidelity 
to  his  oath.  He  did  not  permit 
himself  to  examine  or  investigate 
argument  from  any  other  consid- 
eration. He  adhered  inflexibly 
to  what  he  had  sworn  —  and  how  - 


ever erroneous  we  may  deem  the 
principle  to  be,  which  had  thus 
made  religious  intolerance  a  fun- 
damental law  of  the  realm,  we 
cannot  withhold  the  tribute  of  re- 
spect from  the    motive  of  the 
scruple  which  never  ceased  to 
sway  the  determination  of  the 
King.     At  the  time  when  the 
separate  political  existence  of  Ire- 
land was  merged  in  her  union  with 
Great  Britain,  when  Mr  Pitt,  who 
had  been  nearly  twenty  years  at 
the  head  of  a  successful  adminis- 
tration, and  had  enjoyed  during 
that  long  period  the   most  un- 
bounded royal  favor,  had  pledged 
himself  to    obtain  from  Parlia- 
ment the  revocation  of  the  Catho- 
lic disabilities,  this  impracticability 
of  the  King,  not  only  disabled  Mr- 
Pitt  from  tiie  performance  of  his 
engagement,  but  brought  his  ad- 
ministration itself  to  a  sudden  and 
unexpected  close.    Several  years 
after,  and  subsequent  to  the  de- 
cease of  Mr  Pitt,  the  same  King 
had  abruptly  dismissed  another 
administration  for  merely  propos- 
ing to  bring  forward  the  project 
of  Catholic  emancipation  in  Par- 
liament, and  in  the  formation  of  a 
Ministry  to  supply  their  places 
had  made  it  an  express  condition 
that  they  should  never  bring  for- 
ward   this    obnoxious  measure 
in  Parliament,  nor  even  make 
mention  of  it  to  him.     His  suc- 
cessor, George  the  Fourth,  inher- 
ited the  scruples  of  his  father,  but 
not  his  stubbornness  of  adherence 
to  them.    Until  the  last  year  of 
his  life,  he  had  resisted  by  all  the 
influence  that  he  possessed,  the- 
introduction  and  progress  of  any 
plan  for  admitting  the  Catholics  to 
the  equal  enjoyment  of  civil  and 
political  rights.    Even  so  late  aa 


ENGLAND. 


431 


1825,  the  Duke  of  York,  then 
heir  presumptive  to  the  Crown, 
had  in  a  solemn  asseveration  be- 
fore God,  declared  that  he  never 
would  give  his  assent  to  any  such 
measure,  and  had  attributed  the 
heaviest  of  the  calamities  which 
had  befallen  his  father  to  the  dis- 
tress of  mind  occasioned  by  the 
importunities  with  which  he  had 
been  pressed  on  this  subject. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington,  Prime 
Minister,  and  Mr  Peel,  the  leader 
of  the  administration  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  had  been  among 
the  most  strenuous  opposers  of 
concession  to  the  Catholics,  and 
their  services  in  the  cause  of  ex- 
clusion as  applied  to  the  charac- 
ter, had  been  among  the  most 
conspicuous  means  by  which  they 
had  risen  to  power.  To  the 
great  surprise  of  all  distant  ob- 
servers, to  the  utter  indignation 
and  dismay  of  all  the  Tories  of 
Great  Britain,  it  was  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton and  Mr  Peel  that  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  Catholics  was  to 
obtain  the  sanction  of  Parliament 
and  of  the  King. 

It  was  remarked  in  the  last 
volume  of  this  work  that  this  inno- 
vation upon  the  constitution  of  the 
British  Islands  could  scarcely  fail 
to  be  speedily  followed  by  others 
of  more  intrinsic  importance,  at 
least  to  that  of  Great  Britian. 
The  sinecures  of  the  Church  of 
England,  taxation  by  tythes,  and 
the  invidious  privileges  of  the 
aristocracy  connected  with  them, 
were  believed  to  be  the  defects  in 
the  political  institutions  of  that 
nation,  the  first  to  feel  the  conse- 
quences of  that  introduction  to 
reform  which  consisted  in  the  ad- 
36* 


mission  of  other  modes  of  faith  to 
a  participation  in  the  privileges, 
till  then  exclusively  reserved  to 
the  religion  of  the  State.  The 
march  of  public  opinion  however 
took  a  different  and  more  decisive 
direction.  It  struck  at  once  at 
the  root  of  all  the  public  abuses 
and  inveterate  diseases  of  the 
Government,  and  applied  all  its 
energies  invigorated  by  the  long 
contested  and  hardly  won  victory 
over  religious  prejudices,  to  the 
reform  of  the  national  represen- 
tation in  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  House  of  Commons  was 
an  imperfect  representation  of  the 
people,  —  imperfect  even  in  its 
original  constitution,  —  still  more 
imperfect  by  the  abuses  which  in 
a  succession  of  ages  had  crept  in- 
to its  composition.  In  former 
ages  it  had  sometimes  effectually 
controlled  the  arbitrary  authority 
of  the  Kings,  and  had  once  abol- 
ished the  monarchy  itself,  and 
the  aristocracy  by  which  it  was 
supported.  Since  the  accession 
of  the  Hanoverian  dynasty,  and 
the  virtual  extinction  of  the  Stu- 
arts, the  House  of  Commons  had 
been  gradually  rendered  subservi- 
ent to  the  royal  authority  by 
means  of  influence  upon  the  indi- 
vidual interests  of  the  members. 
This  form  of  Government  had 
been  worked  up  into  a  system, 
chiefly  by  Sir  Robert  Walpole. 
It  was  in  its  origin  accommodated 
to  the  government  of  a  party ; 
the  septennial  act,  the  principal 
foundation  of  the  system,  having 
been  emphatically  and  exclusive- 
ly a  Whig  measure.  In  process 
of  time,  as  the  dangerof  a  second 
restoration  of  the  Stuarts  gradually 
subsided  and  the  nation  had  time 


422 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30, 


to  reflect  upon  the  practical  sys- 
tem of  the  Whigs,  they  became 
discontented  with  tlie  resuh.  They 
saw  that  corruption  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  divine  right,  as  the 
mainspring  of  the  Government ; 
and  tracing  the  evil  to  its  source, 
they  perceived  that  it  originated 
in  the  House  of  Commons  itself. 
This  dissatisfaction  first  began  to 
be  manifested  in  the  early  part  of 
the  reign  of  George  the  Third. 
It  was  denounced  in  Burgh's  po- 
litical disquisitions,  in  which  de- 
tailed statements  were  exhibited 
of  the  two  classes  of  boroughs  de- 
nominated close  and  open  :  in 
the  first  of  which  the  elective 
franchise  had  degenerated  into 
mere  personal  property  ;  and  in 
the  second  was  confined  to  a  very 
small  number  of  dependent  or 
indigent  individuals  who  notori- 
ously were  in  the  practice  of  sell- 
ing their  suffrages  to  the  highest 
bidder. 

Still,  however,  the  House  of 
Commons  was  a  representation  of 
the  people  —  it  was  endeared  to 
the  nation,  as  the  body  by  whose 
asiency  the  liberties  of  the  people 
had  been  redeemed,  maintained 
and  preserved.  The  call  for  re- 
form in  the  composition  of  the 
House  was  identified  with  the 
opposition,  to  the  measures  which 
had  produced  the  American 
Revolution.  It  was  afterwards 
identified  with  the  principles  of 
the  French  Revolution  ;  and  as 
that  movement  of  national  reno- 
vation declined  from  the  popular 
features  of  its  origin,  back  to  the 
hideous  alliance  of  military  des- 
potism with  hereditary  monarchy, 
the  theories  of  reform  in  the 
House  of  Commons  declined  with 


it.  The  most  distinguished  lead- 
ers of  the  British  nation,  in  the 
Cabinet  and  in  the  field,  against  the 
conquering  career  of  Napoleon 
were  at  the  same  time  the  chief 
defenders  of  the  Constitution  as 
it  was,  and  the  most  determined 
antagonists  of  innovation.  Par- 
liamentary reform  became  sy- 
nonymous with  Jacobinism,  and 
the  system  of  rotten  boroughs  and 
virtual  representation  became  in- 
terwoven with  all  the  victories  of 
Wellington,  and  with  all  the  elo- 
quence of  Canning. 

Among  the  grotesque  figures  of 
a  masquerade  we  remember  to 
have  once  seen  a  mask  dressed 
on  one  side  in  a  full  suit  of  em- 
broidered court  clothes,  with  bag 
wig,  side  curls,  point  lace  ruffles, 
sword,  buckles  and  white  silk 
stockings  and  on  the  other  with 
cropped  head,  frock  coat,  panta- 
loons and  boots.  It  was  a  perfect 
image  of  the  political  character  of 
George  Canning.  His  birth, 
education,  temper  and  genius 
were  all  of  this  heterogeneous 
character,  half  legitimate  and 
half  spurious;  ultra-royalist  on 
one  side,  ultra-jacobin  on  the 
other.  From  the  semi-democra- 
cy of  Eton  School,  he  had  been 
transferred  to  the  half  jacobitism 
of  Oxford  University,  and  at  each 
of  those  seminaries  had  imbibed 
a  large  portion  of  the  spirit  be- 
longing to  each  of  them,  and  the 
composition  had  formed  in  his 
mind  a  substance  combustible  and 
explosive  hke  the  mixture  of  nitre 
and  sulphur.  A  disciple  in  polit- 
ical philosophy  of  Edmund  Burke, 
and  in  practical  politics  of  Wil- 
liam Pitt,  he  was  not  gifted  with 
the  all-comprehensive  intellect  of 


ENGLAND. 


423 


the  former,  nor  with  the  lofty  in- 
dependence or  instinctive  good 
sense  of  the  latter.  The  tenden- 
cies of  all  his  negotiations  were 
always  to  hostile  issues.  He  had 
no  spirit  for  compromise  —  no 
temper  for  conciliation.  The 
summit  of  his  ambition  —  the 
very  empyreum  of  his  imagina- 
tion, as  he  himself  declared,  was 
to  pass  with  the  world  and  with 
posterity  for  a  British  Minister  ; 
and  when  the  fancy  took  him,  as 
it  once  did,  of  creating  worlds,  it 
was  merely  to  lay  them  at  the 
feet  of  the  fast-anchored  Isle. 

This  mixture  of  motives  and 
principles  in  the  mind  of  Mr  Can- 
ning produced  corresponding  in- 
congruities in  his  political  system. 
Thus  as  a  disciple  of  William  Pitt 
he  was  a  warm  partisan  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics, 
while  as  a  full  charged  anti-jaco- 
bin he  was  an  inveterate  and  de- 
termined antagonist  of  Parliamen- 
tary reform.  William  Pitt  was 
not  chargeable  with  this  glaring 
inconsistency.  He  was  for  Catho^ 
lie  emancipation  ;  he  was  for  a 
reform  in  the  House  of  Commons  ; 
and  he  had  the  sagacity  to  per- 
ceive, and  the  candor  to  acknow- 
ledge that  these  two  measures 
flowed  from  one  great  elementary 
article  of  the  rights  of  man,  and 
that  it  was  impossible  upon  any 
coherent  theory  of  political  mor- 
als to  be  at  the  same  time  in  favor 
of  one  of  those  measures,  and  in 
opposition  to  the  other. 

They  were  both  measures  al- 
ways before  the  tribunal  of  public 
opinion,  and  often  debated  vehe- 
mently in  Parliament  during  the 
whole politicallife of  Mr  Canning. 
He  had  often  borne  hispartin  ma- 


turing the  successful  progress  of 
the  one  and  in  arresting  that  of 
the  other.  Neither  of  them  was 
destined  however  to  be  brought  to 
its  final  issue  in  his  lifetime. 

He  was  scarcely  cold  in  his 
grave  when  the  Catholic  question 
was  setded,  in  conformity  with  his 
opinions,  by  the  very  men  who 
had  contested  it  against  him  to 
the  last  hour  of  his  life.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  and  Mr  Peel 
had  at  least  been  consistent  in 
their  policy.  They  had  inflexi- 
bly resisted  all  idea  of  concession 
to  the  Catholics.  They  had  been 
equally  tenacious  in  their  adhe- 
sion to  the  ancient  Constitution  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  They 
were  averse  to  reform  in  all  its 
shapes.  But  no  sooner  was  Mr 
Canning  dead  —  no  sooner  were 
they  placed  in  stations  where  all 
the  responsibilities  of  persevering 
in  the  rigors  of  superannuated  in- 
tolerance rested*  entirely  upon 
themselves,  than  they  veered 
about  like  the  change  of  wind 
from  north  to  soulh  in  the  midst 
of  a  hurricane,  and  swept  away 
at  a  single  brush  all  the  Catholic 
disabilities,  which  it  had  been  the 
labor  of  their  lives  to  sustain. 

The  removal  of  these  disabili- 
ties was  perfectly  just  and  proper 
in  itself,  but  it  opened  a  deadly 
breach  in  the  Tory  system  of  poli- 
cy. All  the  strongest  arguments 
against  the  admission  of  Catholics 
to  the  enjoyment  of  political  rights, 
were  also  arguments  against  Par- 
liamentary reform.  By  yielding 
to  the  Catholics  the  right  of  rep- 
resentation, the  same  right  was 
virtually  conceded  to  all  others 
debarred  from  the  exercise  of  the 
same  franchise  by  other  causes 


424  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


inconsistent,  with  the  principle  of 
equal  rights.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington  and  Mr  Peel,  by  sur- 
rendering the  argument  against 
Catholic  emancipation,  virtually 
surrendered  the  argument  against 
reform.  They  took  from  the 
Tories  the  very  citadel  of  their 
system,  and  by  yielding  to  the 
Cathohc  claims  and  still  holding 
out  against  reform,  they  totally 
lost  the  confidence  of  one  party, 
without  acquiring  that  of  the 
other.  They  were  destined  to 
feel  the  consequences  of  this 
half-faced  fellowship  in  deep  hu- 
miliation. 

At  the  meeting  of  Parliament 
on  the  4th  of  February,  1830,  in- 
dications of  the  loss  of  popularity 
b}  the  administration  were  very 
soon  disclosed.  The  speech  from 
the  throne  announced  the  termin- 
ation of  the  war  between  Russia 
and  the  Ottoman  Porte.  It  lament- 
ed the  continued  differences  be- 
tween the  family  of  the  Braganza, 
and  the  inability  of  the  British 
Government  to  renew  its  diplo- 
matic relations  with  Portugal.  It 
announced  a  considerable  reduc- 
tion in  the  public  expenditure  and 
a  diminution  of  the  revenue.  It 
declared  the  King's  intention  to 
submit  to  Parliament  some  mea- 
sures calculated  to  facilitate  and 
expedite  the  course  of  justice  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  others  preliminary 
to  a  revision  of  the  practice  and 
proceedings  of  the  superior  courts. 
It  stated  that  the  export  of  Brit- 
ish produce  and  manufactures  in 
the  preceding  year  had  exceeded 
that  of  any  year  before  ;  but  la- 
mented that  notwithstanding  this 
indication  of  active  commerce, 


distress  should  prevail  among  the 
agricultural  and  manufacturing 
classes  in  some  parts  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 

The  principal  debates  which 
ensued  in  both  Houses  of  Par- 
liament turned  on  the  discussion 
of  questions  whether  distress, 
which  the  speech  acknowledged 
as  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  the 
Kingdom,  was  or  was  not  in  fact 
prevalent  in  all  parts,  as  was  con- 
tended by  the  opposition.  The 
representatives  of  the  agricultural, 
commercial,  navigating  and  manu- 
facturing interests  concurred  but 
in  one  general  voice  of  complaint. 
The  farmers  had  no  market  for 
their  produce,  and  consequently 
no  means  for  the  paying  of  their 
rents-  Whatever  profits  they 
might  have  realized  even  where  a 
market  was  found,  were  absorbed 
by  oppressive  poor's  rates.  Com- 
mercial business  had  fallen  off 
proportionably  —  capital  could 
find  no  employment  —  profits 
dwindled  to  nothing  ;  and  bank- 
ruptcies multiplied.  Pressed  from 
all  quarters  of  England,  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  claimed 
an  exception  where  no  one  would 
have  dreamt  to  look  for  it,  in 
Ireland,  which  the  Irish  members 
by  no  means  confirmed.  The 
Minister  had  perhaps  flattered 
himself  that  the  concession  of  po- 
litical enfranchisement  to  the 
Catholics  had  served  them  as  a 
substitute  for  bread  ;  but  his  er- 
ror was  quickly  rectified  by  Mr 
O'Connell,  who  exemplified  the 
prosperity  of  Ireland  by  the  state- 
ment, that  in  the  city  of  Dublin 
alone  not  less  than  seven  thousand 
registered  paupers  subsisted  npon 
the  luxuriant  charitable  contribu- 


» 


tion  of  three  half-pence  each,  a 
day,  and  that  the  condition  of  the 
farmers  and  laborers  in  the  prov- 
inces, corresponded  accurately 
with  this  state  of  destitution. 
That  the  rents  were  often  paid 
from  the  capital  of  the  farmer  in 
place  of  profits  ;  and  not  unfre- 
quently  by  the  blanket  and  pota- 
to-pot, the  solitary  remnants  of 
capital  unconsumed. 

An  amendment  was  proposed 
in  both  Houses  to  the  echoing  ad- 
dress in  answer  to  the  speech  — 
but  without  success  in  either. 
The  fact  of  universal  distress  was 
sufficiently  demonstrated ;  but 
with  regard  to  its  causes,  and  the 
remedies  to  be  provided  for  it, 
there  was  no  concert  of  opinions. 
There  is  in  truth  but  one  cause 
always  operating  in  Great  Britain 
to  produce  distress,  and  that  is  the 
enormous  burden  of  the  national 
debt.  Tythes  and  Poor  Laws  are 
but  aggravations  of  the  same. 
There  is  a  condition  of  existence 
in  all  human  societies,  embracing 
the  great  mass  of  the  population 
of  men,  whose  industry  barely 
but  effectively  enables  them  to 
subsist  and  maintain  their  families 
above  absolute  want,  but  without 
amassing  property.  Levy  upon 
this  class  of  men,  heavy  contribu- 
tions by  taxation,  and  you  dimin- 
ish their  means  of  subsistence  be- 
low the  standard  of  absolute  ne- 
cessity. The  laws  of  England., 
then  require  that  the  deficiency 
should  be  supplied  by  taxation  of 
their  neighbors.  They  come  upon 
the  parish.  The  class  immedi- 
ately above  them  descend  to  the 
lowest  ranks  of  independent  self- 
supporters,  and  these  in  turn  are 
crowded  down  into  the  condition 


AND.  425 

of  paupers.  This  process  has 
been  constantly  and  very  regu- 
larly going  on  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury ;  that  is,  from  the  time  when 
the  taxation  to  defray  the  interest 
of  the  national  debt  first  became 
excessive.  The  increase  of  the 
debt  and  the  multiplication  of  pau- 
pers have  advanced  with  equal 
acceleration,  hand  in  hand,  till  the 
proportion  of  poor,  supported  by 
the  parish  has  become  about  one 
sixth  of  the  whole  population. 
This  is  about  the  same  proportion 
as  that  of  slaves  to  the  whole 
population  of  these  United  States. 

The  amendment  of  the  Ad- 
dress, which  pledged  Parliament 
to  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the 
country,  was  moved  in  the  House 
of  Peers  by  Lord  King,  and  in  a 
few  of  its  first  sentences  evidently 
proved  that  the  cause  of  the  na- 
tional distress  was  not  unknown  to 
him.  It  said,  '  That  after  fifteen 
years  of  uninterrupted  peace,  this 
House  laments  that  the  general 
condition  of  the  people  is  not  ma- 
terially improved,  nor  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country  perceptibly 
increased.  That  on  the  contra- 
ry, the  landed  and  manufacturing 
interests  as  well  as  the  traders  and 
the  laboring  classes  of  every  de- 
scription, have  frequently  been 
afflicted,  and  still  continue  to  be 
weighed  down  by  severe  distress. 
That  it  is  the  duty  of  Parliament 
to  examine  into  the  causes  which 
have  produced  these  distresses, 
and  to  remove  if  possible  the  im- 
pediments which  retard  the  pro- 
gress of  the  national  prosperity. 

'  That  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  the  materials  of  agriculture 
are  made  dear  by  taxation  and 
regulation.    By  these  means  too 


426 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


much  is  taken  from  the  industri- 
ous classes,  and  in  many  instances 
too  much  is  given  to  the  privi- 
leged classes  of  society. 

'  That  it  is  a  grievous  aggrava- 
tion of  the  public  burdens,  in  ad- 
dition to  near  fifty  millions  of  tax- 
es, deemed  necessary  for  the 
public  service,  still  further  to  suf- 
fer enormous  sums  to  be  extorted 
from  the  people  by  the  intolerable 
monopolies  of  corn,  beer,  sugar 
and  teas,  and  of  other  articles  es- 
tablished for  the  private  benefit 
of  powerful  and  favored  classes 
at  the  expense  of  the  great  body 
of  consumers  and  of  the  public 
good. 

^  By  these  monopolies,  the  cost 
of  the  first  necessaries  of  life  is 
enhanced,  the  rate  of  profit  in  all 
trades  is  diminished,  capital  is 
driven  abroad  to  seek  a  more 
profitable  employment,  and  the 
productive  powers  of  the  national 
industry  greatly  reduced.' 

The  amendment  then  proceed- 
ed into  more  detailed  observations 
upon  the  several  monopolies  of 
corn,  beer  and  mah,  sugar  and 
tea,  all  in  the  present  condition 
of  the  world  and  all  in  various 
modes  subjected  to  the  heavy 
load  of  taxation  to  pay  the  inter- 
est of  the  debt.  The  monopolies 
being  all  the  effect  of  taxation, 
and  by  increasing  the  prices  of 
the  articles  monopolized,  redoub- 
ling taxation  again.  It  conclud- 
ed thus  :  '  That  it  appears  that 
these  gigantic  monopolies  super- 
added to  the  heavy  load  of  taxa- 
tion, have  impoverished  the  coun- 
try, and  produced  the  public  dis- 
tress. That  all  prohibitions  and 
restrictions  imposed  for  the  bene- 
fit of  particular  classes  or  compa- 


nies, for  the  purpose  of  producing 
artificial  high  pwces  are  no  less 
impolitic  than  unjust.  That  our 
own  exclusion  from  the  great 
market  of  the  world,  and  the  ces- 
sation of  the  demand  at  home  are 
the  necessary  consequences  of 
our  own  measures ;  because  it  is 
the  nature  of  things  that  a  nation, 
which  refuses  to  buy  the  produc- 
tions of  other  countries,  cannot 
sell  its  own. 

'  That  we  can  only  expect  to 
derive  permanent  relief  from  our 
distresses  and  impoverishment  in 
our  condition  from  the  strictest 
economy  in  every  branch  of  the 
public  expenditure ;  from  the 
abolition  of  all  exclusive  privi- 
leges and  monopolies;  from  an  un- 
restricted supply  of  the  first  neces- 
saries of  life,  and  of  the  materials 
of  manufacture  ;  and  from  a  real 
free  trade,  by  which  the  whole 
community  as  consumers  will  be 
greatly  benefited,  —  the  laboring 
classes  enabled  to  procure  a  fair 
reward,  —  the  capitalists  to  aug- 
ment those  funds  by  which  all 
labor  is  supported,  —  and  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  British  industry 
fully  permitted  to  produce  its 
natural  result  in  enriching  the 
country,  and  thus  to  restore  and 
secure  the  public  prosperity.' 

Tiiis  motion  for  a  Parliamen- 
tary inquiry  as  well  as  one  of  a 
corresponding  character  in  the 
House  of  Commons  failed  by 
overwhelming  majorities.  The 
subject  of  the  national  ^distress 
however  could  not  be  excluded 
from  the  Halls  of  Parliament  by 
ministerial  votes.  It  was  repro- 
duced by 'numerous  petitions  from 
every  part  of  the  Kingdom,  pic- 
turing in  all  the  varieties  of  forms 


ENGLAND. 


427 


the  wretchedness  of  the  people. 
More  than  fifty  of  those  petitions 
came  from  the  single  county  of 
Kent,  which,  adjoining  upon  the 
immense  metropolis  of  the  island, 
has  advantages  from  its  proximity 
to  that  focus  of  population,  which 
cannot  be  enjoyed  by  the  remoter 
counties.  Yet  so  intense  was  the 
misery  which  they  exhibited  in 
open  day,  that  it  was  scarcely 
more  visibly  disclosed  by  the 
glare  of  the  midnight  conflagra- 
tions, which  soon  afterwards  illu- 
minated the  same  county.  From 
Bedfordshire  there  came  state- 
ments that  the  wages  of  the  labor- 
ers gave  them  barely  the  means 
of  protracting  a  cheerless  exist- 
ence, deprived  of  all  the  comforts 
and  almost  all  the  necessaries  of 
life ;  and  that  there  were  parishes 
in  the  county,  purely  agricultural, 
with  from  fifty  to  ninety  able- 
bodied  men,  destitute  of  other 
work,  employed  by  the  parishes 
and  receiving  four  shillings  a 
week.  From  Berkshire  the  same 
complaints,  with  allegations  that 
the  wages  of  persons  were  in 
some  places  as  low  as  two  shillings 
and  eight  pence  a  week.  From 
Buckinghamshire  it  was  averred 
that  many  persons  committed 
depredations  and  misdemeanors  to 
get  into  prison  ;  thus  to  preserve 
themselves  from  lingering  starva- 
tion. That  many  had  contracted 
disorders  by  eating  the  flesh  of 
animals  that  died  naturally,  and 
other  unhealthy  food  ;  that  their 
health  sufl?ers  for  want  of  fuel ; 
and  that  when  they  apply  to  the 
parish  they  are  charged  with  inso- 
lence, because  they  cannot  starve 
and  be  contented.  The  repre- 
sentation from  Cambridgeshire 


was,  that  the  laborers  cast  upon 
the  parish  funds,  congregated  on 
roads,  in  gravel-pits,  with  their 
spirits  broken,  constantly  repining 
at  their  hard  condition,  and  incit- 
ing each  other  to  vicious  courses, 
while  their  employers  are  regard- 
ed as  task-masters,  and  the  ties  of 
attachment  to  the  land  of  their 
birth  became  gradually  torn  asun- 
der. From  Cumberland  that 
the  distress  with  equal  pressure 
weighs  down,  the  landholder  and 
manufacturer,  the  ship-owner  and 
the  miner,  the  employer  and  the 
laborer.  From  the  county  of 
Derby  the  magistrates,  land-hold- 
ers and  clergy  represented  its 
state  as  deplorable.  Rents  re- 
duced and  in  arrear — tenants 
ruined  ;  laborers  unemployed  and 
farms  thrown  out  of  cuhivation. 
From  Lincoln  a  petition,  signed 
by  ten  thousand  five  hundred 
names  declared  that,  '  Unless  the 
present  urgent  distress  be  speedi- 
ly relieved  it  must  produce  dis- 
astrous consequences,  hazardous 
to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  na- 
tion at  large.'  A  petition  from 
the  parish  of  Renham,  in  Suf- 
folk, stated  that  the  poor  rates 
have  been  progressively  increasing 
for  some  years,  and  that  the  peti- 
tioners are  seriously  afraid  that 
sufferings  so  severe,  although  they 
have  been  hitherto  borne  with 
exemplary  patience,  will  end  in 
general  riot  and  confusion.  A 
petition  from  the  freeholders 
farmers  and  others  of  Croydon, 
in  Surrey,  avows  that  the  pe- 
titioners ' can  no  longer  endure  to 
see  their  fellow-countrymen,  who 
are  born  to  the  lot  of  laborers, 
starving  under  their  eyes;  that 
they  shudder  under  the  reflection 


428 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


that  without  some  timely  aid, 
such  will  soon  be  their  lot.'  In 
presenting  a  petition  from  Frome 
in  Somersetshire,  the  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells  said,  '  I  have 
been  a  witness  to  the  most  afflict- 
ing distress,  and  which  I  could 
not  if  I  would  describe.  I  have 
seen  with  my  own  eyes,  multi- 
tudes who  could  obtain  no  work 
and  were  starving  ;  others,  yoked 
together  like  oxen,  drawing  coals 
from  the  pits  in  the  neighborhood.' 
From  Essex,  from  Norfolk,  from 
Hampshire,  from  Herefordshire, 
in  short  from  every  county  of 
England,  the  same  melancholy 
note  oi  desperation  was  re-echoed, 
foreboding  the  disasters  which  af- 
terwards ensued,  while  the  Peers 
and  Commoners  of  Britain  were 
debating  whether  this  complicated 
and  universal  scene  of  human 
misery  was  caused  by  an  imper- 
fect system  of  banking,  by  the 
restoration  of  payments  in  gold 
and  silver  in  the  place  of  depre- 
ciated paper,  by  the  improve- 
ments of  machinery,  by  the  redun- 
dancy of  population,  or  by  the 
unequal  distribution  of  wealth. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  thought 
the  distress  of  the  manufacturers 
was  owing  to  an  excessive  produc- 
tion of  articles  beyond  what  the 
country  could  consume,  or  for- 
eigners purchase.  That  the  suc- 
cessful application  of  machinery 
and  steam  to  increase  the  efficiency 
of  labor  had  enabled  the  manu- 
facturer to  dispense  with  hand 
labor,  and  not  only  glutted  the 
market  with  goods,  but  deprived 
the  workmen  of  their  employ- 
ment. That  the  manufactures  of 
England  exported  to  foreign 
markets  came  there  into  compe- 


tition with  the  productions  of 
cheap  labor,  and  must  be  govern- 
ed by  their  prices.  There  was 
one  statement  by  the  Premier 
which  accounts  for  distresses  and 
discontents  far  beyond  the  bounds 
of  the  British  Islands.  He  show- 
ed that  raw  cotton  sold  in  1814 
at  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per 
pound,  and  in  1829  for  sixpence. 
This  fact,  and  not  the  American 
system  or  the  tariffis  the  parent  of 
the  whole  nullification  doctrines  of 
South  Carolina.  Here  is  a  depreci- 
ation of  four  fifths  of  the  value  of 
the  staple  article  of  agricultural 
produce  in  South  Carolina.  This 
is  the  magician  which  has  con- 
verted the  definition  of  an  impost 
duty  into  a  tax  upon  exports,  and 
rendered  unconstitutional  the  very 
purpose  for  which  the  Constitution 
was  framed  by  the  Convention  of 
1787,  and  adopted  by  the  people. 
But  in  the  operation  of  this  fact 
upon  the  condition  of  the  United 
States,  as  in  that  of  the  national 
debt  in  Great  Britain,  there  is  a 
single  primary  cause  of  all  the 
distresses  which  spread  over  the 
agricukural  and  all  other  interests. 
In  Britain  it  is  taxation  to  pay  the 
public  debt.  In  America  it  is 
slavery.  In  countries  where  the 
operative  tillers  of  the  ground 
are  freemen,  depreciation  of  the 
raw  material  for  manufacture 
rather  increases  than  diminishes 
the  amount  of  home  consumption. 
The  laborer  obtains  less  for  the 
article  which  he  produces —  he 
has  more  of  it  for  his  own  ^use. 
But  in  the  tillage  of  the  ground 
where  the  labor  of  the  slave  is  the 
property  of  the  master,  the  slave 
must  be  maintained  at  the  charge 
of  the  master.    Depreciation  of 


ENGLAND. 


429 


the  product  leaves  the  burden  of 
maintaining  the  produce  little  if  at 
all  diminished.  The  slave  him- 
self becomes  an  insupportable 
charge,  and  the  plantation  goes  to 
ruin.  But  as  prejudice  and  pas- 
sion seldom  attribute  their  disas- 
ters to  their  true  causes,  they  are 
ever  on  the  search  for  such  as 
flatter  them  ;  and  thus  the  planter 
works  himself  up  into  the  faith, 
that  an  impost  upon  iron  in  Ame- 
rica knocks  down  the  price  of  his 
short  staple  cotton  at  Liverpool, 
and  that  a  road  in  Illinois,  or  a 
canal  at  Louisville,  make  the 
charge  of  maintaining  his  negroes 
consume  four  times  over  all  the 
profits  of  his  plantation,  as  the 
British  statesman  seeks  for  the 
cause  of  famine  stalking  over  the 
land,  in  the  power  of  steam,  the 
multiplication  of  manufacturing 
machinery,  and  the  restoration  of 
cash  payments  by  the  bank. 

After  the  consumption  of  ma- 
ny weeks  in  these  unprofitable 
debates,  the  motions  for  parlia- 
mentary inquiry  were  rejected  in 
both  houses  by  ministerial  majori- 
ties of  four  or  five  to  one. 

The  administration,  however, 
lound  it  indispensable  to  propose 
measures  tending  to  relieve  the 
distress  proved  to  be  so  universal 
and  so  severe.  Their  most  essen- 
tial proposal  was  a  reduction  of 
the  duties  upon  beer,  leather  and 
cider.  That  upon  beer  alone 
amounted  to  three  millions  ster- 
ling, a  sum  equal  to  more  than 
half  the  annual  revenue  of  the 
United  States ;  but  an  alleviation 
scarcely  perceptible  to  the  taxa- 
tion of  the  people  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. 

Gfthe  other  measures  discuss- 
S7 


ed  in  Parliament  during  this  ses- 
sion, the  bill  introduced  by  Mr 
Brougham  for  the  establishment 
of  County  Courts  was  preceded 
by  an  elaborate  and  celebrated 
speech,  but  the  consideration  of 
the  bill  was  postponed  to  another 
session.  Sir  Robert  Peel  intro- 
duced a  bill  to  consolidate  and 
mitigate  the  statutes  of  forgery, 
in  which  an  attempt  was  made  to 
reduce  this  from  a  capital  crime 
to  an  offence  punishable  by  trans- 
portation. An  amendment  con- 
formable to  this  principle  was  suc- 
cessful in  the  House  of  Commons,' 
but  was  rejected  by  the  Lords. 

The  sanguinary  character  of 
the  criminal  law  in  England,  has 
long  been  a  theme  of  just  and  se- 
vere reproach  upon  the  govern- 
ment of  that  island.    There  is  no 
part  of  the  code  of  public  mo- 
rals which  has   been   so  much 
improved  within  the  last  century, 
as  that  which  graduates  the  pro- 
portions between  crimes  and  pun- 
ishments.    'It  is  a  melancholy 
truth,'   says  Blackstone   in  his 
Commentaries,  '  that  among  the 
variety  of  actions  which  men  are 
daily  liable  to  commit,  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty  have  been 
declared  by  act  of  Parliament  to  be 
felonies  without  benefit  of  clergy  ; 
or  in  other  words,  to  be  worthy 
of  instant  death.'    This  list  has 
been  since  the  publication  of  the 
Commentaries  much  reduced ;  but 
forgery  has  been  one  of  the  crimes 
which  has  the  longest  withstood 
the  progress  of  reformation.  —  It 
is,  indeed,  a  crime  of  deep  malig- 
nity —  a'crime  of  deliberation  — 
a  crime  requiring  for  its  commis- 
sion ingenuity  and  skill.  Against 
the  commission  of  this  crime,  so 


430  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


ciety  cannot  be  guarded  so  effect- 
ually as  against  many  others  ;  —  it 
is  perpetrated  in  secrecy,  screen- 
ing it  from  detection,  and  its  con- 
sequences are  more  extensively 
felt  than  those  of  most  other  out- 
rages upon  the  rights  of  persons 
or  of  property.  George  III.  had 
been  educated  in  the  behef  that 
it  was  the  most  atrocious  of  crimes, 
and  although  in  several  cases  he 
extended  his  royal  mercy  to  cri- 
minals guilty  of  murder,  not  a 
single  instance  occurred  through- 
out his  long  reign  of  his  granting 
a  pardon  for  forgery.  This  rigor 
was  not  stimulated  by  anything  of 
an  unrelenting  propensity  in  his 
nature ;  but,  by  an  erroneous  esti- 
mate of  the  comparative  atrocious- 
ness  and  danger  of  the  crime.  In 
this  opinion  he  was  sustained  by 
that  of  the  public,  which  is  now 
no  longer  the  same.  This  is  suf- 
ficiently indicated  by  the  vote  in 
the  House  of  Commons  for  re- 
pealing, as  applicable  to  this  crime, 
the  punishment  of  death. 

The  revolution  in  the  public 
opinion  favorable  to  parliamentary 
reform,  which  had  been  silently 
taking  place  since  the  settlement 
of  the  Catholic  question,  was  so 
far  from  having  penetrated  into 
Parliament,  that  the  reformers 
were  at  this  session  unable  to 
procure  for  Birmingham,  or  any 
other  large  town,  the  franchise 
which  the  borough  of  East  Redford 
had  forfeited,  and  that  after  two 
years  of  discussion,  it  was  only 
extended  into  the  hundred  to 
which  the  borough  belonged.  — 
Far  other  principles  were  soon  to 
prevail. 

In  the  parliamentary  discussions 
npon  the  foreign  affairs  of  Great 


Britain,  the  same  results  were  dis- 
played of  measures  dictated  by 
incongruity  of  political  system  — 
the  point  of  the  political  epigrams 
of  George  Canning.  —  In  Spain 
he  had  suffered  the  revolutionists 
and  constituon-makers  to  be  put 
down  by  a  French  army,  under 
the  Duke  d'Angouleme;  in  Por- 
tugal, he  had  patronized  a  consti- 
tutional government,  and  sent  an 
English  army  to  Lisbon  to  main- 
tain it  —  though,  at  the  same  time , 
the  army  were  under  positive  or- 
ders to  take  no  part  in  the  internal 
dissensions  of  Portugal.  Don 
Miguel,  who  for  a  conspiracy 
against  his  father's  crown  and  life, 
had  passed  several  years  in  exile 
at  Vienna,  returned  to  Lisbon 
under  the  protection  and  patron- 
age of  Great  Britain.  She  was 
a  party  to  the  treaty  by  virtue  of 
which  he  leturned.  —  He  had 
taken  England  on  his  way  ;  and 
there  had  been  treated  by  the 
British  government  with  the  high- 
est distinction.  He  was  escorted 
to  the  Tagus  by  an  English 
squadron  ;  was  received  at  Lisbon 
by  the  English  ambassador;  swore 
to  the  charter  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  English  government ;  and  was 
protected  in  his  capital  by  English 
troops.  The  constitutional  party 
could  not  doubt  that  they  would 
be  guarantied  against  any  design 
of  usurpation  on  his  part ;  yet 
within  a  very  few  days  after  his 
arrival,  he  threw  off  the  mask,  put 
down  the  Charter  and  the  Cortes, 
and  instead  of  the  regency  to  which 
he  had  been  sworn,  ascended  tlie 
throne  as  of  his  own  right ; 
convoked  an  assembly  of  his  own 
partisans,  proclaimed  his  absolute 
right  to  the  crown,  and  reigned 


ENGLAND.  431 


as  legitimate  a  tyrant  as  any 
one  of  his  brethren  in  Europe. 
—  To  all  this  the  cold-blooded 
policy  of  Mr  Canning  manifest- 
ed a  perfect  indifference.  The 
counter-revolution  was  in  truth  ef- 
fected with  the  countenance  of  the 
British  army.  Don  Miguel  was 
not  formally  acknowledged  as  king 
of  Portugal ;  but  his  blockades 
were  recognised  as  legal,  and  the 
fugitives  from  the  proscriptions  of 
the  usurper  were  treated  by  the 
British  government  with  every 
possible  indignity. 

Tlieir  pohcy  with  regard  to  the 
affairs  of  Greece  was  equally  self- 
ish, contracted,  and  absurd.  In 
the  communities  of  civilized  chris- 
tian nations,  no  truly  great  states- 
man can  adopt,  without  pernicious 
consequences  and  gross  injustice, 
the  principle  of  adapting  all  his 
measures  to  the  exclusive  benefit 
and  advantage  of  his  own  country. 
This  was  the  elementary  error  of 
Mr  Canning  and  of  Mr  Huskisson, 
his  ablest  associate.  One  of  the 
greatest  blessings  to  mankind  de- 
rived from  the  substitution  of  the 
Christian  for  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion, was  the  extension  by  Chris- 
tianity to  all  mankind  of  the  bless- 
ings conferred  by  the  Mosaic  law^to 
one  peculiar  people.  The  char- 
acteristic of  the  Hebrew  Law  was 
the  exclusive  enjoyment  of  the 
favor  of  heaven  by  one  family  of 
men,  and  to  such  a  perversion  of 
excess  had  tMs  principle  been 
carried  about  the  time  when  all 
the  avenues  of  divine  beneficence 
had  been  opened  to  the  Gentiles 
by  the  Gospel,  that  the  great  Ro- 
man moral  satirist  of  the  age  de- 
clares, that  a  Jew  in  his  time 
would  not  show  an  inquiring  tra- 


veller his  way,  or  help  him  to  a 
cup  of  cold  water,  unless  he  was 
circumcised. 

Non  monstrare  vias  eadem  nisi  sacra  colenti  : 
Quaesitum  ad  fontein  solos  deducere  verpoa. 

Juvenal  Sat.  ]4.  v.  103. 

It  was  by  the  same  contraction 
of  elementary  principle  that  Mr 
Canning  proclaimed  the  object  of 
his  ambition  to  be  the  acquisition 
of  the  renown  of  being  a  British 
statesman,  and  that  Mr  Huskisson 
repeatedly  avowed  in  parliament 
the  object  of  his  policy  to  consist 
in  promoting  the  prosperity  of 
Great  Britain,  and  in  counteracting 
that  of  her  commercial  rivals. 
For  the  personal  popularity  of  the 
minister  at  home  this  system  may 
be  more  effective  than  one  of  more 
liberal  expansion  ;  but  it  will  al- 
ways lead  to  injustice,  and  often 
to  defeat  and  disappointment. 
Thus  in  the  affairs  of  Greece,  as 
in  those  of  Portugal,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  like  Mr  Canning  and 
Mr  Huskisson,  must  be  nothing 
but  a  British  statesman.  The 
result  of  which  in  Portugal  was 
as  we  have  seen.  What  was  it  in 
Greece  }  The  attempt  to  impose 
upon  a  people  who  had  passed 
through  a  furnace  more  fiery  than 
that  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  estab- 
lish their  freedom,  a  king  igno- 
rant of  their  language,  a  heretic  to 
their  religion,  a  total  stranger  to 
their  country,  never  having  shared 
in  their  afflictions,  never  having 
rendered  them  an  hour  of  service, 
—  a  king  from  the  principality  of 
Saxe  Coburg  in  Germany  to  rule 
over  the  inhabitants  upon  the  field 
of  Marathon,  and  perchance  to 
defend  again  the  passes  of  Thermo- 
pylae ;  and  this  king  was  to  be 
thus  imposed  upon   this  people 


432 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


because  he  had  been  the  husband 
of  the  princess  Charlotte,  and  re- 
ceived from  the  British  treasury  a 
pension  of  fifty  thousand  pounds 
sterling  a  year.  There  was  noth- 
ing, absolutely  nothing  else  in  the 
character  or  circumstances  of  the 
Prince  to  recommend  him  to  the 
Greek  nation  for  their  soverign. 

Under  the  same  impulse  to 
signali'::e  himself  as  a  British 
statesman,  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, who  had  denominated  the 
victory  at  Navarino  an  untoward 
event  when  the  battle  for  Greece 
was  fought  —  when  by  their  own 
unparelleled  exertions,  sufferings 
and  sacrifices,  aided  by  the  victo- 
ries and  subsidies  of  Russia,  and 
even  by  the  ostensible  demonstra- 
tions of  a  French  array  upon  their 
territories,  they  had  wrought  out 
their  salvation,  and  had  their  in- 
dependence secured  by  the  treaty 
of  Adrianople  — interposed  to 
curtail  the  dimensions  of  the 
Greek  territories  by  excluding 
from  them  the  island  of  Candia, 
and  by  narrowing  to  its  smallest 
extent  their  northeVn  boundary 
line.  The  Prince  of  Coburg  him- 
self had^^«//?/  the  good  sense  to 
perceive  that  be  was  not  the  per- 
son suited  to  be  king  of  Greece, 
and  he  would  have  saved  himself 
some  mortification,  to  say  nothing 
worse,  if  he  bad  availed  himself 
of  that  discovery  to  inquire  more 
criucally  into  his  qualifications  for 
king  of  Belgium,  to  which  the 
British  statesmen  have  at  last 
promoted  him. 

V  In  the  midst  of  this  session  of 
Parliament,  and  while  they  were 
wasting  much  time  in  debates 
upon  all  these  subjects,  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Satur- 
day the  26ih  of  June,  died,  the 


King,  George  the  Fourth,  in  the 
tenth  year  of  his  reign.  As  Re- 
gent however  he  had  been  for 
a  nearly  equal  period  of  time,  the 
executive  head  of  the  kingdom, 
before  his  accession  to  the  throne. 
Never  in  the  history  of  the  Brit- 
ish Islands  has  there  been  a  time 
when  their  people  were  more 
prosperous  as  the  world  estimates 
prosperity  :  never  a  time  w'hen 
their  Government  performed  so 
commanding  a  part  in  the  afiairs  of 
Europe  ;  and  never  a  time  when 
the  personal  character  and  ac- 
tive operation  of  their  king  were 
so  absolute  and  unqualified  a  nul- 
lity, as  while  the  whole  political 
movement  of  the  nation  was  pro- 
pelled and  directed  by  his  sign- 
manual.  His  health  had  been  de- 
clining from  the  beginning  of  the 
year.  About  the  15th  of  April  the 
first  of  a  series  of  bulletins  was 
issued,  announcing  that  he  had  stif- 
fered  a  bilious  attack  with  an  em- 
barrassment in  breathing.  About 
the  middle  of  May  he  became 
unable  to  affix  bis  si2;nature  to 
the  iKiblic  papers,  and  an  act  of 
Parliament  was  passed  appointing 
a  Commission  to  affix  it  by  stamp 
to  all  acts  requiring  the  signman- 
ual.  Had  such  an  act  passed  on 
his  first  accession  to  the  royal  au- 
thority, the  history  of  England, 
save  in  that  single  incident,  would 
have  been  precisely  what  it  is. 
His  disorder  continued  to  increase 
in  aggravation  till  a  violent  cough 
with  expectoration  supervened. 
The  day  before  his  decease  it  oc- 
casioned the  rupture  of  a  blood 
vessel,  which  brought  the  scene 
to  a  close.  His  primary  disease 
was  an  ossification  of  the  vessels  of 
the  heart,  complicated  at  last  with 
a  dropsy.  It  was  attended  for  some 


ENGLAND. 


433 


time  with  agonizing  pain,  which 
lie  bore  with  exemplary  patience. 

In  the  question  between  the 
hereditary  and  the  elective  prin- 
ciple for  determining  the  person 
to  be  invested  with  the  chief  ex- 
ecutive authority  of  powerful  na- 
tions, which  had  heretofore  di- 
vided the  opinions  of  mankind, 
but  which  has  been  in  constant 
issue  since  the   declaration  of 
American  independence,  the  per- 
son_al  and  individual  characters  of 
the  men  who  by  the  operation  of 
the  two  systems,  have  respective- 
ly been  brought  upon  the  scene 
of  action,  have  had  a  great  though 
silent  and  slowly  self-unfolding  ef- 
fect upon  the  still  uncompleted 
verdict  of  mankind.   The  result  of 
the  hereditary   principle  acting 
upon  the  manners  and  prevailing 
opinions  of  the  age,  is  to  place  up- 
on the  throne  men  of  vicious  hab- 
its, of  corrupted  morals,  of  cold 
hearts,  of  frivolous  tastes,  of  lux- 
urious and  effeminate  lives ;  and 
of  insignificant  characters.  Such 
was  preeminently  the  character  of 
George  the  Fourth.  He  was  born 
heir  apparent  to  the  throne  of  the 
British  realms.    The  fourth  king 
hilt  of  the  fifth  generation  in  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty.    His  first 
and  second  progenitor  of  that 
family  upon  whom  the  crown  im- 
perial of  the  realm  had  been  set- 
tled on  the  final  expulsion  of  the 
Stuarts,  were  natives  of  Germany, 
had  received  a  German  education, 
and  were  imbued  with  the  arbitra- 
ry principles  of  feudal  sovereign- 
ty, chastised  and  controled  by  the 
gleams  of  purer  light  elicited  from 
the  collisions  which  had  raised 
therntothe  throne.    They  had 
supplanted  the  rightful  heirs  of 
37* 


hereditary  descent,  by  a  revolu- 
tion founded  on  a  departure  from 
that  principle.  Bred  themselves 
in  the  rankest  hot  bed  of  feudali- 
ty, but  foreigners  to  the  British 
Islands  by  birth,  speaking  scarce- 
ly at  all  their  language,  aliens  to 
their  manners  and  endowed  with 
no  faculties,  such  as  command 
the  veneration  or  win  upon  the 
affections  of  men,  with  contested 
titles  to  the  crown  and  the  hered- 
itary principle  of  right  incontesta- 
bly  with  their  antagonist,  they 
were  necessarily  compelled  to 
rely  upon  the  principle  of  liberty 
for  their  support  in  the  elevation 
to  which  it  had  raised  them,  and 
to  vest  their  confidence  exclusive- 
ly in  that  portion  of  the  states- 
men and  people  of  Britain,  by 
whose  principles  and  assistance 
the  sceptre  had  been  transferred 
to  them. 

But  at  the  accession  of  George 
the  Third,  seventy  years  after  the 
revolution  which  had  displaced 
the  Stuarts,  their  hopes  if  not 
their  pretensions  were  extinguish- 
ed. The  old  hereditary  princi- 
ple had  resumed  its  sway  and  the 
son  of  Frederick  Prince  of 
Wales,  whom  George  the  Second 
his  father  had  survived,  though 
born  in  England  and  in  a  life  of 
four  score  years  never  out  of  the 
Island  had  a  German  princess  for 
his  mother,  the  sum  of  whose  po- 
litical instructions  to  him  was 
^  George^  be  King.''  Though  in 
his  first  speech  to  Parliament  he 
had  the  sagacity  to  declare  that 
he  gloried  in  being  a  Briton  born  ; 
this  was  a  mere  flourish,  to  claim 
a  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the 
people  which  his  ancestors  and 
pre  ecessors  of  his  family  had  n 


434 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


possessed.    From  the  outset  of 
his  reign  the  principles  of  the 
Revolution  were  discountenanced; 
his  favors  were  chiefly  shared  by 
Scottish  Jacobites  and  Tories,  and 
the  spirit  of  freedom  was  out- 
raged by  the  attempt  to  introduce 
taxation  by  Act  of  Parliament  into 
the  North  American  Colonies. 
The  abortion  of  this  effort,  and 
the  involvement  of  the  nation  in 
unextinguishabledebt  in  the  strug- 
gle to  accomplish  its  purpose, 
constitute  one  half  the  history  of 
his  reign  of  half  a  century.  The 
other  half  was  a  struggle  equally 
desperate   against    the  French 
Revolution,  and  against  the' pro- 
gress of  liberal  principles  through- 
out the  world.    It  was  reserved 
to  be  the  fortune  of  his  son  and 
successor,  to  enjoy  the  apparent 
credit  of  accomplishing  this  ob- 
ject.   His  regency  was  signal- 
ized by  the  triumph  of  the  Euro- 
pean Alliance,  as  it   seemed  to 
themselves  and  to  the  world,  over 
the  long  agony  of  the  French 
Revolution.    How  fallacious  and 
short  lived  that  triumph  was  des- 
tined to  be,  George  the  Fourth  did 
not  live  fully  to  realize  ;  but  in 
the  achievement  of  the  triumph 
he  had  as  little  personal  agency 
as  in  the  reverse   which  hap- 
pened so  soon  after  his  remains 
were  consigned  to  the  tomb.  In 
the  days  of  Edward  the  Third,  his 
son  when  Prince  of  Wales  was 
the  first  warrior  of  the  age.  Ed- 
ucation to  the  art  of  war  was  the 
discipline  of  youth   for  British 
princes,  down  even  to  the  acces- 
sion of  the  House  of  Hanover. 
James  the  Second,  WiUiam  the 
Third,  George  the  First  and  Se- 
cond, had  all  been  military  chief- 


tains personally  exposed  to  the 
dangers  of  the  field  or  of  the  deck  ; 
but  in  the  space  of  seventy  years 
from  the  accession  of  George  the 
Third  to  the  demise  of  George  the 
Fourth,  although  their  country 
was  during  more  th^n  half  that 
period,  involved  in  the  most  for- 
midable and  bloody  wars,  and  the 
country  over  which  they  ruled 
contending  for  her  very  existence, 
neither  of  them  ever  heard  the 
whistling  of  a  musket  ball  upon  the 
field.  Even  at  the  time  when  the 
cannon  ball  which  brought  Mo- 
reau  to  the  earth,  by  the  mere 
chances  of  the  day,  might  have 
struck  instead  of  him  the  imperial 
head  of  Alexander,  then  at  his 
side,  even  when  Francis  of  Aus- 
tria, and  Frederick  William  of 
Prussia  were  upon  the  tented  field, 
contending  with  Napoleon  and  all 
his  legions,  George  the  Fourth, 
who,  had  sent  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  his  gallant  country- 
men, to  mingle  in  the  strife  of 
battle,  and  to  die  for  their  king 
and  country,  was  himself  reclin- 
ing upon  beds  of  down,  and  gorg- 
ing upon  the  marrow  of  the  land 
in  his  pavilion  at  Brighton,  or  if 
the  thought  of  martial  glory  ever 
entered  his  soul,  it  never  stimula- 
ted him  beyond  the  achievement 
of  devising  embroidery  for  the 
uniform  of  his  guards. 

There  were  virtues  in  the  heart 
and  mind  of  George  the  Third  ; 
and  in  spite  of  all  his  weaknesses 
and  all  his  errors  they  have  em- 
balmed his  memory.  He  was 
honest ;  which  in  the  days  of 
Shakspeare  and  of  Hamlet,  as  the 
world  went,  was  to  be  one  man 
in  ten  thousand.  In  the  days  of 
George  the  Third  the  proportion 


ENGLAND 


435 


had  not  much  varied.  He  was 
sincere.  He  was  religious  with- 
out superstition,  without  fanati- 
cism —  a  virtue  of  the  first  order 
in  every  station  of  human  life, 
of  transcendent  excellence  in  a 
king,  inasmuch  as  it  keeps  him 
constantly  in  mind,  that  however 
uncontrolable  his  actions  may  be 
upon  earth  there  is  a  tribunal  be- 
fore which  he  will  one  day  be 
called  to  answer  for  them  with 
tremendous  responsibility.  There 
were  none  of  these  barriers  to 
vice  in  the  soul  of  his  eldest  son. 

'  The  king-becoming  graces,  _ 
As  justice,verity,  temperance,stableness5 
Bounty,  perseverance,  mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion,  patience,  courage,  fortitude, 
He  bad  no  relish  of  them.' 

He  was  not  honest  —  he  was  false  ; 
false  to  man  — as  Charles  Fox  and 
Sheridan  could  testify  to  the  last 
hour  of  their  lives — false  to  wo- 
man —  as  his  secret  and  his  public, 
his  Catholic  and  his  Protestant 
wife,  and  many  a  forsaken  mis- 
tress, from  Mrs  Robinson  to  Lady 
Jersey,  could  testify.  False  to 
his  country,  to  whom  he  gave  in 
her  Parliament  through  Charles 
Fox,  the  solemn  pledge  of  his  hon- 
or that  he  was  not  married  to 
Mrs  Fitzherbert.  —  The  private 
life  of  George  the  Third  was  irre- 
proachable. The  example  of  so- 
cial and  domestic  life  set  by  him 
and  his  queen  had  a  great  and 
salutary  influence  upon  the  morals 
of  the  land.  What  Briton  can 
ever  look  without  a  blush,  at  the 
example  of  private  life  set  by 
George  the  Fourth  ?  His  heart  was 
radically  bad  ;  no  education  could 
have  made  it  good  ;  as  no  original 
native  purity  could  have  preserved 
itself  from  the  pollutions  of  such 


an  education  as  he  had  re- 
ceived. 

He  was  born  on  the  12th  of 
August,  1762,  the  anniversary  of 
the  accession  of  his  family  to  the 
British  throne.  When  four  days 
old  he  was  created  by  letters 
patent  Prince  of  Wales  and  Earl 
of  Chester ;  on  the  18th  of  August 
he  was  baptized  by  the  name  of 
George  Augustus  Frederick  : 
when  three  years  old,  was  invested 
with  the  order  of  the  garter, 
and  received  from  the  society  of 
Ancient  Britons  a  formal  address, 
which  he  answered,  probably  with 
about  as  much  expense  of  his  own 
intellect  as  he  ever  afterwards  be- 
stowed upon  his  people.  At 
four  years  of  age,  he  was  appoint- 
ed Captain  General  of  the  Artille- 
ry Company  of  the  City  of  Lon- 
don, a  post  which  he  held  till  his 
death,  and  in  which  the  military 
renown  which  he  acquired  was 
not  inferior  to  that  of  the  train- 
band captain  in  the  same  service, 
immortalized  in  the  verses  of 
Cowper.  In  1771,  Lord  Hol- 
derness  was  appointed  governor 
to  him  and  his  next  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  Dr  Markham, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  York, 
and  Dr  Cyril  Jackson,  their  pre- 
ceptors. Five  years  afterwards 
these  officers  were  exchanged  for 
the  Duke  of  Montague  and  Bish- 
op Hurd.  Under  the  guidance 
and  tuition  of  these  respectable 
persons,  he  was  kept  totally  se- 
cluded from  the  world,  confined 
to  a  rigorous  course  of  study,  till 
he  became  an  accomplisned  clas- 
sical scholar,  well  versed  in  the 
Latin  language,  with  a  sufficient 
smattering  of  Greek  and  familiar 
with  the  modern  French,  German, 


436 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


and  Italian.  His  instruction  in 
natural  and  experimental  philoso- 
phy was  adapted  to  the  prevailing 
standard  of  the  time,  and  he  ac- 
quired a  gentlemanly  taste  for 
literature,  and  a  fashionable  relish 
for  the  fine  arts,  especially  for 
Painting  and  Music. 

These  are  all  elegant,  and  may 
be  made  eminently  useful  accom- 
plishments. In  him  they  were 
set  off  by  others,  more  superficial, 
but  more  dazzling  to  the  superfi- 
cial observers  of  mankind.  In 
person  he  was  remarkably 
handsome.  In  manners,  grace- 
ful and  fascinating.  With  all 
the  internal  hardness  he  had 
the  external  polish  of  marble. 
But  with  all  this  care  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  surface  he  was  educa- 
ted for  sensual  enjoyments  and 
not  for  toilsome  action.  He  was 
brought  up  in  the  established  re- 
ligion of  the  state,  but  among  his 
studies  we  hear  nothing  of  moral 
philosophy,  nothing  of  the  school 
of  ethics  to  which  he  was  formed. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  one  he  was 
adniitted  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
by  the  title  of  Duke  of  Cornwall. 
In  the  theory  of  the  British  con- 
stitution, the  peers  of  the  reahn 
are  the  hereditary  counsellors  of 
the  king,  and  form,  in  their  cor- 
porate capacity,  one  branch  of  the 
Legislature.  This  theory  neces- 
sarily supposes  that  the  individuals 
thus  honored  by  their  birth,  shall 
receive  education  suitable  to  the 
stations  which  they  are  thus  privi- 
leged to  occupy.  —  That  they 
shall  be  instructed  in  the  elements 
of  political  science,  and  made 
acquainted  with  the  wants  and 
interests  of  their  country,  —  fa- 
vored by  the  confidence  of  that 
country  in  advance,  —  placed  in 


a  post  of  honor  and  of  power,  — 
free  from  all  dependence  either 
upon  the  crown  or  upon  the  peo- 
ple; —  a  duty  of    the  sternest 
obligations  rests  upon  them  to  qua- 
lify themselves  for  the  high  and 
responsible    trust  committed  to 
their  charge,  —  a  trust  embracing 
all  the  transcendent  powers  of 
government,  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive.   These  obligations 
weigh  with  accumulated  gravity 
upon  the  heir   apparent  to  the 
throne,  to  whom  his  appropriate 
functions,  as  a  peer  of  tlie  realm, 
should  be  the  most  effective  prac- 
tical school  to  fit  him  for  the 
higher  and  all-embracing  duties 
of  the  kingly  crown,  to  which,  in 
course  of  nature,  he  is  to  be 
called.    This  theory  is  founded 
upon  a    superficial  observation, 
and  a  too  generous  estimate  of 
human  nature.    The  experience 
of  all  ages  shows  that  the  proper- 
ty of  all  independent  hereditary 
power  is  to  degenerate  either  into 
morbid  energy,  or  more  frequent- 
1}  into  torbid  inaction.  The  spark 
of  ethereal  flame  imparted  by  the 
divine  intelligence  to  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  human  race  for  pur- 
poses w^ise  and  good,  but  inscru- 
table to  us,  communicated  in  por- 
tions so  unequal  that  in  its  extremes 
on  the  one  bandit  is  scarcely  dis- 
cernible from  the  mere  animal 
brute  creation,  while  on  the  other 
it  raises  man  to  a  standard  little 
lower  than  the  angels.    In  this, 
as  in  the  other  phenomena  of 
mind  and  matter,  w^e  perceive 
that  the  creative  power  acts  by 
general  laws ;  but  the  limited  ca- 
pacity of  man  is  unable  to  dis- 
cover by  what  laws  this  distribu- 
tion so  unequal  is  made.  We 
only  know  that  it  is  independent 


ENGLAND 


437 


of  all  human  agency  and  control ; 
and  that  it  is  not  transmissible  by 
descent.  Genius,  the  attribute 
which  of  all  others  most  approx- 
imates the  human  to  the  divine 
nature,  to  human  observation  ap- 
pears to  be  the  gift  of  chance.  — 
It  strikes,  like  the  bolt  of  heaven, 
where  it  listeth. --- It  enters  at 
once  the  British  House  of  Peers, 
and  the  hovel  of  a  Scottish  pea- 
sant, to  transform  the  ploughman 
and  the  peer  into  the  two  most 
splendid  poets  of  the  age  ;  but 
not  a  particle  of  that  flame,  which 
in  them  is  destined  to  illuminate 
or  to  consume,  shall  descend  on 
one  individual  of  their  posterity. 
The  son  of  king  Edward  111., 
when  Prince  of  Wales,  was  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  warriors 
that  his  native  island  had  produ- 
ced.—  The  son  of  George  III.,  in- 
vested with  the  same  dignity,  was 
a  mere  gaudy  trifler  and  fashion- 
able rake  —  a  Bond-street  loun- 
ger in  pall-mall,  and  a  nerveless 
sybarite  at  Brighton.  During  the 
middle  ages  of  Europe,  France 
was  afflicted  by  a  succession  of 
monarchs,  known  in  history  under 
the  denomination  of  the  do-noth- 
ing kings  —  Les  Roi  Faineans. 
—  This  epithet  would  be  perfectly 
characteristic  of  the  life  and  reign 
of  George  IV. — ^^From  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  world,  his  youth 
was  marked  only  by  the  most 
unbridled  licentiousness  and  ex- 
travagance.—  From  the  time 
when  he  came  of  age,  he  receiv- 
ed a  grant  from  Parliament  of 
sixty  thousand  pounds  sterling  for 
outfit,  and  fifty  thousand  pounds 
a  year  as  income  ;  his  friends, 
that  is  to  say,  his  parasites,  affect- 
ed to  consider  this  establishment 


as  mean  and  niggardly,  demanded 
for  him  double  that  amount  of 
income,  and  stimulated  him  to 
resentment  against  the  king  his 
father  for  refusing  to  countenance 
this  claim  of  boundless  profusion. 
—  He  connected  himself  in  inti- 
macy with  the  leaders  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  administration,  wlio 
ultimately  found  in  his  treachery 
to  themselves,  and  his  desertion 
of  their  cause,  the  reward  of  their 
attachment  to  him,  and  of  their 
subserviency  to  his  profligate  ha- 
bits of  life.  —  Handsome  in  per- 
son, graceful  in  deportment,  fas- 
cinating in  manners,  and  profuse 
in  expenses,  he  was  called  the 
most  accomplished  gentleman  in 
Europe,  because  he  had  been 
duly  drilled  by  the  dancing, fenc- 
ing and  riding  masters,  and  as 
ministering  to  sensual  enjoyment 
had  cultivated  a  taste  for  the  ele- 
gant arts  of  music,  painting,  sculp- 
ture and  architecture  ;  endowed 
by  nature  with  a  lively  wit,  his 
education  and  habits  gave  it  the 
direction  of  satirical  severity,  and 
he  indulged  it  in  cutting  sarcasms 
and  coarse  jokes  upon  his  menials 
and  dependants,  from  whom  he 
could  be  in  no  danger  of  retort. 
This  sparkling  vivacity,  with  the 
splendor  of  his  entertainments, 
the  magnificence  of  his  palace, 
the  brilliancy  of  his  equipages, 
and  the  wasteful  riot  of  his  ex- 
penditures, gave  for  years  a  daz- 
zling gloss  to  his  reputation,  which 
to  the  vulgar  observation  of  his 
countrymen,  passed  for  indications 
of  an  accomplished  prince.  As 
if  to  set  at  defiance  the  moral  de- 
cency of  his  father's  court,  he 
commenced  his  career  with  giving 
affected  publicity  to  his  licentious 


438 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


connexion  with  a  married  woman 
whomhe  had  seduced,  with  whom 
he  paraded  about  the  streets  of 
London  in  an  open  Phaeton,  and 
whom,  two  years  after,  he  desert- 
ed, and  suffered  to  die  in  shame, 
wretchedness  and  want. 

His  next  irregular  and  unlawful 
connexion  was  with  Mrs  Fitzher- 
bert,  an  Irish  widow,  then  ten 
years  older  than  himself.  —  A 
connexion  sanctioned  by  the  forms 
of  marriage,  and  in  which  the  di- 
vine law  was  complied  with  by  a 
double  violation  of  the  law  of  the 
land.  Mrs  Fitzherbert  was  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  a  British 
subject,  with  whom  a  marriage 
by  the  heir  apparent  was  prohibi- 
ted by  at  least  two  acts  of  Par- 
liament. By  one  of  them,  the 
marriage  was  absolutely  null  and 
void —  by  the  other,  the  Prince 
had  incurred  the  forfeiture  of  his 
right  of  succession  to  the  crown, 
which  the  lady  well  knew :  so 
that  of  the  subsequent  treachery 
or  dereliction  of  her  royal  lover 
she  could  have  less  cause  to  com- 
plain than  if  their  union  had  been 
disavowed  by  religion  as  well  as 
by  human  laws.  She  is  yet  liv- 
ing at  the  age  of  little  less  than 
four  score,  and  if  her  influence 
over  the  mind  and  conduct  of  her 
paramour  was  in  nothing  more  ex- 
ceptionable than  in  preparing  his 
conscience  for  giving  his  royal 
assent  to  the  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion bill,  she  cannot,  at  least,  be 
chargeable  with  having  abused  it 
for  evil  purposes.  That  she  was 
instrumental  in  effecting  a  re- 
conciliation of  courtesy  between 
him  and  the  last  relicts  of  the 
Stuart  pretenders,  and  with  the 
Roman    Pontiff,  has  been  ru- 


mored, but  without  formal  au- 
thentication. 

However  this  might  be,  the 
influence  of  Mrs  Fitzherbert  was 
never  effective,  and  probably  ne- 
ver exerted  to  reclaim  him  from 
his  habits  of  extravagance  and 
dissipation,  aggravated  by  the  ru- 
inous vice  of  gaming.  By  this 
his  affairs  soon  became  so  much 
involved  in  debt  and  disorder  that 
he  was  reduced  to  the  humiliation 
of  applying  to  his  father  for  relief 
from  his  embarrassments,  and 
suffered  from  him  the  mortifica- 
tion of  a  refusal.  Then  for  the 
purpose  of  shaming  his  father 
into  compliance,  he  made  a  the- 
atrical display  of  self-sacrifice, 
broke  up  his  establishment,  sold 
his  race  horses,  surrendered  four 
fifths  of  his  income  for  the  gradual 
liquidation  of  his  debts,  and  did 
penance  upon  ten  thousand  pounds 
sterling  a  year.  By  the  baseness 
of  these  devices  to  briag  upon  his 
father  the  obloquy  of  miserly 
meanness  towards  his  son,  he 
alienated  the  affections  of  the 
king,  till  he  discarded  him  from  , 
all  intercourse  with  him  public  or 
private.  Soon  growing  w^eary  of 
his  own  performance  in  this  farce 
of  penury  and  persecution,  he 
transferred  his  application  for 
relief  from  the  king  to  Parlia- 
ment, from  whom  he  obtained  a 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  pounds  to  pay  his  debts, 
and  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  to 
repair  his  palace,  on  a  condition 
of  amendment  and  future  econo- 
my, to  which  he  assented  only  to 
afford  another  proof  how  utterly 
regardless  of  his  word  he  was. 

It  was  in  the  debate  upon  this 
act,  that  the  fact  of  his  secret 


ENGLAND. 


439 


marriage  with  Mrs  Fitzherbert 
was  solemnly  denied  and  treated 
as  an  infamous  calumny  by  Mr 
Fox  in  the  confidence  of  his  reli- 
ance upon  the  word  of  honor  of 
the  heir  apparent  secretly  pledged. 
Mr  Fox  afterwards  discovered 
that  in  this  transaction  his  royal 
highness  had  made  him  at  once 
his  instrument  and  his  dupe,  for 
which,  it  is  said,  he  never  forgave 
him. 

Not  long  afterwards  appeared 
the  first  decisive  indications  of 
the  malady,  which  afflicted  the 
last  years  of  the  king's  life.  Its 
access  then  was  temporary,  but 
brought  on  the  necessary  discus- 
sion in  Parliament  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  regency.  An  act 
of  Parliament  for  this  purpose, 
vesting  the  regency  in  the  prince 
of  Wales,  but  under  considerable 
restrictions  upon  the  exercise  by 
the  regent  of  the  royal  power, 
was  presented  by  the  minister, 
adoptedby  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  had  reached  its  last 
stages  in  the  House  of  Peers, 
when  all  further  proceedings  on 
the  subject  were  superseded  by 
the  recovery  of  the  king.  The 
agitation  of  the  question  to  which 
this  occasion  gave  rise,  produced 
little  less  than  a  convulsion 
throughout  the  kingdom.  The 
dissolute  and  unprincipled  habits 
and  conduct  of  the  prince,  his 
connexions  with  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition  to  the  administration, 
whose  private  morals  were  scarce- 
ly less  exceptionable  than  those 
of  the  prince  himself,  and  the 
dissensions  between  him  and  his 
father  which  had  prevailed  im- 
mediately before  the  occurrence 
of  the  king's  disease,  had  so  stag- 


gered the  confidence  of  the  nation 
in  his  personal  dispositions,  that 
Mr  Pitt  found  it  necessary  to 
provide  by  law,  that  the  re- 
gency of  the  kingdom  should  be 
separated  from  the  custody  of  the 
king's  person,  from  the  disposal  of 
his  property,  from  the  manage- 
ment of  his  household,  and  even 
from  the  exercise  of  some  of  the 
highest  powers  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, particularly  in  the  crea- 
tion of  Peers.  The  regency, 
thus  manacled,  the  prince  had 
been  under  the  necessity  of  con- 
senting to  accept,  though  not  with- 
out ungracious  complaints  at  the 
distrust  which  he  had  deserved, 
and  the  restraints  to  which  he  was 
obliged  to  submit. 

The  king,  however,  recovered, 
and  the  French  revolution  which 
soon  followed,  while  it  broke  up 
into  fragments  the  opposition  to 
Mr  Pitt's  administration,  dissolved 
also  the  prince's  connexion  with 
them.  —  He  had  the  sagacity  to 
perceive  that  a  revolution,  which 
then  announced  itself  as  founded 
upon  the  principle  of  subverting 
all  royal  governments,  held  forth 
banners  under  which  a  prince  of 
Wales,  and  heir  apparent  of  Eng- 
land, could  not  conveniently  serve 
and  in  1792,  he  made  a  speech 
in  the  House  of  Lords  against 
the  doctrines  then  adopted  by  his 
old  friends  the  new  Whigs,  of 
whom  he  thus  took  leave,  and 
henceforward  voted  with  the  min- 
istry. 

The  prince  of  Wales,  without 
very  profound  penetration,  might 
have  discovered  that  a  reforma- 
tion of  his  own  manners,  and  the 
devotion  of  his  faculties  to  the 
service  of  his  country,  would  have 


440  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


afforded  a  stronger  argument 
against  the  doctrines  of  the  repub- 
lican revolutionists  than  his  seces- 
sion from  the  standard  of  the 
Whigs  in  Parliament.  But  he 
made  no  discovery  which  could 
reclaim  him  from  his  vices.  —  A 
very  few  years  again  involved  him 
in  debt  inextricable,  and  after 
failing  in  an  attempt  to  negotiate 
a  loan  in  Holland,  he  at  last  bar- 
gained himself  away  by  a  marriage 
with  his  cousin,  Caroline  Amelia 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  Brunswick,  upon  condition 
that  his  debts  should  be  paid,  and 
a  larger  provision  should  be  made 
for  his  household  establishment. 
A  parliamentary  grant  of  six  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  was  made 
for  the  first  of  these  objects  and 
an  annuity  of  one  hundred  and 
twentyfive  thousand  pounds  a 
year  for  the  last,  besides  a  hand- 
some outfit.  The  marriage  took 
place  on  the  8th  of  April,  1795, 
and  on  the  next  day  he  deserted 
his  conjugal  duties  forever,  treat- 
ed his  wife  with  constant  and 
gross  indignity,  compelled  her  to 
live  in  a  separate  establishment, 
harassed  her  with  delicate  inves- 
tigations of  her  own  conduct, 
drove  her  into  a  wandering  exile 
upon  the  continent  of  Europe, 
denied  her  upon  his  own  accession 
to  the  throne  the  right  of  re- 
cognition as  his  Queen,  and  final- 
ly aimed  at  once  at  her  honor 
and  her  life  by  a  bill  of  pains  and 
penalties,  before  the  House  of 
Peers,  for  adultery  w^ith  an  ob- 
scure Itahan  by  the  name  of  Ber- 
gami.  Of  this  charge  she  was 
acquitted,  and  immediately  after 
died  of  a  broken  heart. 

In  1810,  the  last  and  incurable 


return  of  his  father's  disease,  re- 
vived the  necessity  for  a  regency, 
which  was  conferred  upon  him 
under  the  restrictions  contempla^ 
ted  twentytwo  years  before  by 
Mr  Pitt,  some  of  which  were, 
however,  afterwards  removed.  — r 
The  custody  of  the  king's  person 
remaining,  until  bis  death  in  1 820, 
in  the  queen,  and  a  committee  of 
Privy-counsellors  and  Peers. 

Ascending  the  throne  at  the 
age  of  little  less  than  three  score, 
the  reign  of  George  IV.  could  not 
in  the  course  of  nature  be  long. 
—  Its  duration  was  of  about  ten 
years  :  for  his  constitution,  natu- 
rally strong  and  vigorous,  though 
impaired  by  the  vicious  excesses 
of  a  licentious  life,  yet  lasted 
nearly  out  the  average  term  of 
years  allotted  to  man.  His  days 
were  nearly  three  score  years  and 
ten  ;  and  so  completely  will  he 
stand  before  the  tribunal  of  pos- 
terity as  a  do-nothing  king,  that 
were  his  existence  blotted  out  of 
the  history  of  England,  there  is 
not  a  solitary  law  or  institution,  or 
word  or  deed  worthy  of  preser- 
vation, which  would  pass  into  ob- 
livion with  him. 

His  next  brother,  the  Duke  of 
York,  having  died  before  him,  he 
was  immediately  succeeded  upon 
the  throne  by  the  third  son  of 
George  III.,  William  Henry, 
Duke  of  Clarence.  It  was  re- 
marked by  a  philosophical  Roman 
historian,  that  of  thirteen  Roman 
Emperors  who  had  reigned  at 
the  time  when  he  wrote,  one  only 
had  improved  his  reputation  by 
the  exercise  of  supreme  power. 
To  judge  of  the  character  of 
King  William  IV.  at  this  time, 
would  be  obviously,  rash  and  pre- 


ENGLAND. 


441 


mature,  but  thus  far  he  appears 
entitled  to  the  commendation 
bestowed  by  Tacitus  upon  Ves- 
pasian. His  reputation  as  a 
Prince  of  the  blood  royal  of  Eng- 
land was  not  enviable.  —  He  had 
indeed,  from  early  youth  been 
destined  in  active  life  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  on  the  thea- 
tre of  her  renown,  and  of  her 
power.  He  had  risen  in  regular 
gradation  from  the  ranks  of  a 
midshipman  and  lieutenant  in  her 
navy  ;  and  before  the  age  of  man- 
hood, had  breasted  the  battle  and 
the  breeze  during  the  American 
revolutionary  war.  But  there  his 
services  had  ceased.  When  the 
age  of  manhood  came,  he  had 
retired  from  its  useful  and  honor- 
able toils.  When  he  became 
Duke  of  Clarence,  with  a  par- 
liamentary establishment  of  six- 
teen thousand  pounds  sterling  a 
year,  he  slunk  away  from  his 
proper  stand,  the  quarter  deck  of 
a  man  of  war,  to  the  inglorious 
retirement  of  Bushy  Park,  where 
living  in  shameless  notoriety  with 
an  accomplished  actress  of  the 
stage,  and  after  making  her  the 
mother  of  a  spurious  breed  of 
children  now  mingling  their  mon- 
grel blood  with  that  of  the  proud- 
est nobles  of  the  kingdom,  he  turn- 
ed her  off  to  perish  with  want  in  a 
foreign  land,  and  to  be  indebted 
for  decent  obsequies  to  the  char- 
ity of  strangers.  And  while  thus 
he  lived,  Howe,  and  Hood,  and 
Duncan,  and  Jarvis,  and  Colling- 
wood,  and  Exmouth,  and  Nelson, 
were  twining  wreaths  of  laurel 
round  the  colossal  form  of  their 
country,  multiplying  from  year  to 
year  her  mural  crowns,  extending 
her  fame  over  every  ocean,  and 
38 


bearing  her  thunder  to  every  land. 
Of  these  heroic  warriors,  the  Duke 
of  Clarence  was  a  brother  admi- 
ral ;  —  with  them  and  before  them 
he  rose  in  rank  and  promotion  till 
he  reached  the  summit  of  the 
profession   forbidden  to  them, 

—  the  dignity  of  Lord  High  Ad- 
miral of  the  United  Kingdom. 
He  shared,  he  more  than  shared 
the  rewards  of  glorious  achieve- 
ment ;  but  of  its  labors,  its  toils, 
its  dangers,  its  anxieties,  its  pri- 
vations, its  energies,  what  thought 
or  memory  could  there  be  in  the 
luxurious  and  dissolute  purlieus 
of  Brushy  Park  ? 

But  the  rising  sun  will  never 
be  destitute  of  worshippers.  — 
George  IV.  departed  without  be- 
ing desired.  The  accession  of 
William  IV.  was  welcomed  with 
joyous  acclamations.  His  early 
life  had  brought  him  into  famihar 
intercourse  with  the  laborious  and 
common  classes  of  men ;  from 
which  the  heir  apparent  had  al- 
ways been  preposterously  seclud- 
ed. The  midshipman  of  a  man 
of  war  had  been  under  the  com- 
mand of  plebeian  superiors  —  the 
messmate  of  simple  commoners 

—  the  companion  of  rude  and 
hardy  tars,  and  there  had  taken 
lessons  of  language  more  ener- 
getic than  dignified,  and  formed  a 
taste  for  manners  more  popular 
than  refined.  A  sailor  king  was 
a  novelty  in  the  British  Islands,, 
and  gave  to  the  person  uniting  the 
characters,  a  double  hold  at  once 
upon  the  affections  and  the  reve- 
rence of  the  people.  It  had,  in- 
deed, once  before  been  combined 
in  the  person  of  an  unfortunate 
Prince,  the  last  of  the  Stuart  line  ;• 
and  if  James  II.  had  not  sacrificed 


442 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


three  kingdoms  for  a  mass,  his 
naval  exploits  would  perhaps  have 
atoned  for  all  his  other  follies,  and 
have  left  him  to  die  in  possession 
of  the  throne.  The  career  of 
William  IV.  had  not  been  signal- 
ized by  any  brilliant  achievement, 
but  it  had  given  him  the  glossary 
of  the  seaman's  language,  and  the 
rude  but  hearty  and  hardy  man- 
ners of  the  gun-deck.  It  has 
been  said  that  his  instruction  as 
Lord  High  Admiral  of  Great 
Britain  to  Admiral  Codrington, 
which  produced  the  victory  of 
Navarino,  was  conveyed  in  the 
significant  words  '  Go  it,  Ned,'  in 
a  postscript  to  an  official  despatch, 
—  and  when  on  a  recent  occasion 
he  was  suddenly  called  to  go  to 
the  House  of  Peers  to  dissolve 
the  Parliament,  the  royal  state 
coach  not  being  in  a  state  of  pre- 
paration, he  ordered  his  servants 
if  the  yacht  could  not  be  got  rea- 
dy, to  send  him  the  yawl. 

These  anecdotes  may  be  apo- 
cryphal, but  whether  real  sayings 
from  the  royal  lips,  or  probable 
fictions  of  courtiers  around  him, 
they  indicate  the  character  of  the 
man.  A  Commodore  Trunnion 
upon  the  throne,  and  they  seized 
hold  at  once  upon  the  imagination 
and  the  heart  of  the  British  peo- 
ple. He  was  withal  afTable  in 
his  manners,  cordial  in  his  deport- 
ment, and  in  the  establishment  of 
his  household,  descended  from 
the  stiff  and  scornful  dignity  of 
the  old  courts,  approximating  to 
the  domestic  arrangements  of 
private  families  in  the  middle 
ranks  of  society.  His  reign  com- 
menced,therefore,  under  auspices 
of  great  popularity.  During  the 
wars  of  the  French  Revolution, 


the  Duke  of  Clarence  had  steadi- 
ly adhered  to  the  Tory  Adminis- 
trations of  his  country  ;  and  Mr 
Canning,  w  hen  at  the  head  of  the 
ministry,  after  the  death  of  the 
Earl  of  Liverpool,  seeking  from 
every  quarter    support   in  his 
struggle  against  an  overbearing 
aristocracy,  had  brought  the  Duke 
himself  in  as  Lord  High  Admiral 
of  the  kingdom,  an  office  which 
had  been  laid  up  in  ordinary 
since   the  decease  of  George, 
Prince  of  Denmark,  the  husband 
of  Queen  Ann.    This  experi- 
ment had  not  proved  remarkably 
successful.    The  Lord  High  Ad- 
miral was  said  to  have  been  over- 
liberal  in  the  use  of  funds  without 
waiting  for  parliamentary  appro- 
priations.   He  had  found  it  ad- 
visable during  the  administration 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  to 
resign  his  office,  which  was  again 
vested  in  a  board  of  commission- 
ers, as  it  had  been  for  more  than 
a  century  before  his  appointment. 
But  notwithstanding  this,  and  not- 
withstanding recent  family  con- 
nexions had  been  formed  between 
the  Fitz-Clarences,  and  certain 
distinguished  members    of  the 
Whig  opposition,  William  IV.  on 
his  first  accession  to  the  throne, 
retained  all  the  ministers  in  office 
at  the  decease  of  his  predecessor. 
In  commanding  them  to  continue 
their  services,  he  gave  them  an 
assurance  of  hisperfeot  confidence 
in  their  zeal  and  ability,  and  a 
declaration  that  no  change  would 
be  made  in  the  principles  upon 
which  the  government  had  been 
conducted  by  them.  Disappoint- 
ed in  their  expectations  from  the 
change  in  the  person  of  the  mo- 
narch, the  opposition  adapted 


ENGLAND. 


443 


their  course  of  hostility  against  the 
ministry  to  the  new  circumstances 
of  the  time,  and  brought  forward, 
even  after  a  message  from  the 
crown  announcing  a  speedy  dis- 
solution of  Parliament,  and  re- 
commending a  speedy  despatch 
of  the  necessary  business  of  the 
session,  a  motion  for  an  immediate 
settlement  of  a  Regency  and  tiie 
civil  list.  This  proposition  was 
defeated  by  a  large  majority,  and 
Parliament  was  dissolved  under  a 
general  expectation,  soon  to  be 
signally  disappointed,  that  the 
power  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
and  his  ministry  was  consolidated 
upon  an  immovable  foundation. 

The  new  Parliament  met  on 
the  second  of  November.    In  the 
interval  between  the  dissolution  . 
and  that  day,  events  of  transcen- 
dent importance  had  occurred  in 
other  countries,  which  had  totally 
changed  the  face  of  continental 
Europe,  and  had  prepared  times 
of  trouble  and  of  convulsion  in 
the  British  islands.    The  Revo- 
lution of  the  three  days  of  Barri- 
cades, at  the  close  of  the  month  of 
July  —  the  expulsion  of  Charles 
X.  and  of  his  family  from  France 
—  the  elevation  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  to   the  vacant  throne  — 
the  dismemberment  of  the  king- 
dom of  the  Netherlands —  and 
the  insurrection    of  the  Poles 
a2;ainst  the  Russian  autocrasy  at 
Warsaw,  the  former  related  in 
other  chapters  of  this  volume,  had 
all  occurred.    All  Europe  was  in 
combustion.    The  revolutionary 
flame  was  already  burning  fiercely 
in  Ireland,  upon  the  agitation  of  a 
proposal  for  a  repeal  of  the  Act  of 
Union  with  Great  Britain  ;  and 
even  in  the  larger  island,  the  pro- 


gress of  popular  revolutions  in  tlie 
adjoining  lands,  had  stirred  up 
all  the  elements  of  public  discon- 
tent, and  revived  with  redoubled 
fury  the  clamors  for  retrenchment 
and  reform.  The  progress  of  the 
elections  had  disclosed,  unex- 
pectedly to  all,  the  decline  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  popularity 
—  very  recently  before  so  unri- 
valled, that  some  of  his  enemies 
made  no  scruple  of  insinuating  that 
the  crown  itself  was  not  safe  from 
the  grasp  of  his  ambition.  He 
was  himself  far  from  perceiving 
the  height  from  which  he  had  fall- 
en. He  had  not  dared  to  refuse 
the  recognition  of  the  new  govern- 
ment of  France  ;  but  with  regard 
to  the  Revolution  in  the  Nether- 
lands, he  had  manifested  a  dis- 
position to  take  part  against  the 
people,  which  the  spirit  of  the 
age  could  no  longer  endure. 

The  king  opened  the  session 
of  Parliament  by  a  speech  in  per- 
son. He  stated  that  since  the 
dissolution  of  the  late  Parliament 
events  of  deep  interest  and  im- 
portance had  occurred  on  the 
continent  of  Europe. 

That  the  elder  branch  of  the 
House  of  Bourbon  no  longer 
reigned  in  France,  and  that  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  had  been  called 
to  the  throne  by  the  title  of  King 
of  the  French.  —  That  having 
received  from  the  new  sovereign 
a  declaration  of  his  earnest  desire 
to  cultivate  the  good  understand- 
ing, and  to  maintain  inviol  ate  all 
the  engagements  subsisting  with 
Great  Britain,  he  did  not  hesitate, 
to  Continue  his  diplomatic  rela- 
tions and  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  French  Court. 

That  he  had  witnessed  with 


444 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


deep  regret  the  state  of  affairs  in 
the  Low  Countries.  He  lament- 
ed that  the  enlightened  adminis- 
tration of  the  king  should  not  have 
preserved  his  dominions  from 
REVOLT,  and  that  the  wise  and 
prudent  measure  of  submitting 
the  desires  and  complaints  of  his 
people  to  the  deliberations  of  an 
extraordinary  meeting  of  the 
States  General,  should  have  led  to 
no  satisfactory  result. — That  he 
was  endeavoring,  in  concert  with 
his  allies,  to  devise  such  means 
of  restoring  tranquillity  as  might 
be  compatible  with  the  welfare 
and  good  government  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  with  the  future 
security  of  other  states. 

That  notwithstanding  the  ap- 
pearances of  tumult  and  disorder 
in  different  parts  of  Europe,  he 
hoped  to  preserve  to  his  people 
the  blessings  of  peace,  —  and  that 
the  determination  to  maintain, 
in  conjunction  with  his  Allies, 
those  general  treaties  by  which  the 
political  system  of  Europe  has 
been  estahlished,  would  offer  the 
best  security  for  the  repose  of  the 
world. 

That  he  had  not  yet  accredited 
his  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
Lisbon  ;  but  that  a?  Don  Miguel 
had  determined  to  grant  a  general 
act  of  amnesty,  he  thought  the 
time  might  shortly  arrive  for  re- 
newing the  relations  which  had 
so  long  existed  between  the  two 
countries. 

He  recommended  an  immedi- 
ate consideration  of  an  act  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Regency  in  the 
event  of  his  decease,  before  his 
successor  should  arrive  at  years  of 
maturity  ;  and  the  establishment 


of  a  civil  list,  upon  which  he  said 
he  placed  without  reserve,  at  the 
disposal  of  parliament,  his  interest 
in  the  hereditary  revenues,  and  in 
the  funds  derivable  from  droits  of 
admiralty,  the  West  India  duties, 
or  other  casual  revenue. 

He  deeply  lamented  that  in 
some  districts  of  the  country  the 
property  of  his  subjects  had  been 
endangered  by  combinations  for 
the  destruction  of  machinery,  and 
that  serious  losses  had  been  sus- 
tained through  the  acts  of  wick- 
ed incendiaries. 

He  could  not  view  without 
grief  and  indignation,  the  efforts 
industriously  made  to  excite 
among  the  people  a  spirit  of  dis- 
content and  disaffection,  and  to 
disturb  the  concord  prevailing  be- 
tween those  parts  of  his  domi- 
nions, the  union  of  which  was  es- 
sential to  their  common  strength, 
and  common  happiness.  He  was 
determined  to  exert  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power,  all  the  means  which 
the  law  and  the  constitution  hnd 
placed  at  his  disposal,  for  the 
punishment  of  sedition,  and  for 
the  prompt  suppression  of  outrage 
and  disorder. 

Amidst  all  the  difficulties  of  the 
present  conjuncture,  he  reflected 
with  the  highest  satisfaction  on 
the  loyalty  and  affectionate  at- 
tachment of  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  —  He  was  confident  that 
they  justly  appreciated  the  full 
advantages  of  the  happy  form  of 
government,  under  which,  through 
the  favor  of  Divine  Providence, 
the  country  had  enjoyed  for  a 
long  succession  of  years,  a  great- 
er share  of  internal  peace,  of  com- 
mercial prosperity,  of  true  liberty, 


ENGLAND. 


445 


of  all  that  constitutes  social  hap- 
piness, than  has  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  any  other  country  in  the  world. 

He  concluded  by  affirming  it 
to  be  the  object  of  his  life  to  pre- 
serve these  blessings  to  this  peo- 
ple, and  to  transmit  them  unim- 
paired to  posterity  ;  and  that 
he  was  animated  in  the  discharge 
of  the  sacred  duty  committed  to 
him  by  the  firmest  reliance  on 
the  wisdom  of  Parliament,  and 
on  the  cordial  support  of  his  faith- 
ful and  loyal  subjects. 

There  is  always  a  glaring  in- 
congruity between  the  form  and 
the  substance  of  the  speeches  of 
the  kings  of  Great  Britain  to  their 
Parliament.  In  form,  they  speak 
in  the  first  person,  and  descant  at 
large  upon  their  own  virtues  and 
graces.  In  substance,  they  per- 
form the  part  of  school  boys  recit- 
ing their  lessons  ;  or  in  the  more 
courtly  and  sarcastic  language  of 
Junius,  they  give  graceful  utter- 
ance to  the  sentiments  of  the  mi- 
nister. The  king  of  England 
WTites  not  one  line  of  the  speech 
that  he  delivers  from  the  throne. 
He  is  responsible  for  not  one  word 
that  he  speaks.  His  ministers  are 
responsible  for  it  all  with  their 
heads,  and  it  is  of  course  always 
written  by  them.  The  personal 
dispositions  of  the  king  are  there- 
fore of  no  account,  and  paragraphs 
of  self-encomium  and  gratulation 
in  their  speeches,  are  merely 
modes  of  flattery,  really  address- 
ed by  the  minister  to  the  king, 
though  apparently  delivered  by 
the  king  to  his  people.  The 
speech  is  always  reechoed  by  ad- 
dresses from  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament, and  the  debates  upon 
these  addresses  are  at  once  the 
38* 


severest     criticisms    upon  the 
speech,  and  the    most  decisive 
trials  of  strength  between  the  ad 
ministration  and  their  opponents. 

To  this  ordeal  the  first  parlia- 
mentary speech  of  William  IV". 
was  immediately  brought.  —  And 
first  a  gross  inconsistency  of  first 
principles  was  charged  upon  its 
different  parts.  It  declared  that 
the  king  did  not  hesitate  to  con- 
tinue his  diplomatic  relations  and 
friendly  intercourse  with  the  court 
of  France,  although  the  elder 
branch  of  the  House  of  Bourbon 
had  ceased  to  reign  in  that  king- 
dom, and  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
had  been  called  to  the  throne. 
The  only  reason  assigned  for  his 
recognition  of  the  total  overthrow 
of  legitimacy  by  a  popular  insur- 
rection, and  this  acknowledgment, 
without  hesitation,  of  a  govern- 
ment, without  title,  monarchical 
or  republican,  hereditary  or  elec- 
tive, was  that  the  new  king  of  the 
French  had  declared  his  earnest 
desire  to  cultivate  the  good  un- 
derstanding, and  to  maintain  the 
engagements  subsisting  with  Great 
Britain.  Here  was  the  system 
of  non-intervention  in  all  its  puri- 
ty. But  when  he  came  to  speak 
of  the  Belgian  Revolution,  how 
altered  was  the  tone !  It  was 
styled  a  revolt  against  an  enlight- 
ened government,  aggravated  by 
the  rejection  of  wise  and  prudent 
measures  of  the  Dutch  king, 
which  his  royal  brother  of  Eng- 
land lamented ;  and  it  stated 
that  he  was  with  his  allies  devising 
means  to  restore  tranquillity,  com- 
patible not  only  with  the  security 
of  other  states,  but  with  the  wel 
fare  and  good  government  of  tli 
Netherlands.     Here     was  the 


446 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


principle  of  intervention  in  its 
rankest  and  most  offensive  form. 
The  king  of  England,  after  pro- 
nouncing the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  Belgium  a  wanton  revolt 
against  an  enlightened  government 
was  devising  means  for  restoring 
good  government ;  —  and  it  was 
impossible  to  read  the  whole  par- 
agraph without  inferring  that  in 
his  majesty's  perception  and  judg- 
ment the  enlightened  government 
and  the  good  government  were 
tlie  same. 

Then^again  with  regard  to  Por- 
tugal the  principle  of  non-inter- 
vention was  resumed  for  the  ben- 
efit of  a  tyrant  and  usurper.  Mr 
Canning  had  sent  a  British  army 
into  Portugal  to  put  him  down. 
He  had  accomplished  his  purposes 
directly  in  their  face  ;  and,  indeed, 
with  their  countenance,  if  not 
their  support.  The  troops  had 
then  been  withdrawn  ;  all  the 
supporters  both  of  a  free  consti- 
tutional government  and  of  the 
ancient  monarchy  had  been  aban- 
doned to  the  merciless  vengeance 
of  the  usurper,  which,  after  he 
had  glutted  by  bloody  executions, 
imprisonments,  banishments  and 
confiscations,  king  William  was 
about  to  recognise  Don  Miguel 
as  a  legitimate  sovereign,  upon  his 
issuing  a  general  act  of  amnesty, 
of  his  faithful  performance  of 
which,  he  had  given  a  foretaste  by 
the  violation  of  all  the  engage- 
ments and  treaties  which  he  had 
so  recently  subscribed  for  the  set- 
tlement of  the  crown  upon  the 
daughter  of  his  brother,  then 
Emperor  of  Brazil. 

These  inconsistencies  were 
seized  upon  with  great  eagerness 
by  the  opposition  in  both  houses 


of  Parliament,  headed  in  the  House 
of  Peers  by  Earl  Grey,  and  in  the 
Commons  by  Henry  Brougham, 
then  first  returned  as  a  member 
from  the  populous  county  of  York. 
They  were  inconsistencies  of  the 
most  dangerous  kind :  for  they 
tended  to  deprive  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  of  that  reputation 
which,  till  then,  had  constituted 
his  principal  power  —  the  repu- 
tation of  firmness  and  energy. — 
Compared  together,  his  course  of 
proceeding  towards  France,  and 
towards  the  Netherlands,  indicat- 
ed a  feeble,  timid,  and  vacillating 
policy  ?  *  Willing  to  wound,  and 
yet  afraid  to  strike,'  —  overawed 
by  the  giant  form  of  revolutionary 
France  ;  but  bold  and  daring  in 
the  attempt  to  put  down  the  same 
spirit  upon  the  small  and  contract- 
ed theatre  of  Belgium. 

The  paragraph  of  the  speech 
respecting  the  tumults  and  disor- 
ders prevailing  in  various  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  seemed  to  have  a 
special  reference  to  the  state  of 
Ireland,  and  was  thought  to  bear 
peculiarly  upon  one  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  O'Con- 
nell,  the  Irishman.  He,  after 
sharing  in  the  triumph  of  Catholic 
emancipation,  had  taken  his  seat 
without  opposition,  after  a  fruidess 
attempt  to  take  it  before  the 
Catholic  bill  had  passed.  —  That 
question  setded,  he  had  raised 
another,  by  stimulating  the  people 
of  Ireland  to  demand  the  repeal 
of  the  Act  of  Union  between  that 
island  and  Great  Britain.  The 
proposal  had  been  received  in 
Ireland  with  great  favor,  and  had 
been  made  the  signal  for  re- 
union of  the  two  great  parties 
into  which  that  country  had  been 


ENGLAND. 


447 


so  long  divided.  The  royal 
speech  alluded  to  these  efforts  in 
a  tone  which  left  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  the  whole  power  of  the 
government  would  be  exerted  to 
suppress  this  attempt  if  it  should 
be  made. 

There  was  another  point  upon 
which  the  speech  presented  itself 
with  awkwardness  from  a  want 
of  precision  in  the  language  of  its 
composition.  It  made  a  show  of 
placing  at  the  disposal  of  Parlia- 
ment all  the  king's  personal  and 
individual  property;  but  upon  in- 
quiry it  was  found  that  the  reve- 
nues of  the  Dutchies  of  Cornwall 
and  Lancaster  were  tacitly  ex- 
cepted. A  warm  and  angry  de- 
bate upon  this  question  followed 
upon  the  discovery,  the  result  of 
which  was  to  leave  on  the  public 
mind  the  impression  of  a  mean 
and  ungracious  act  on  the  part  of 
the  king,  in  that  which  was  bla- 
zoned forth  in  the  speech  as  a 
sacrifice  of  splended  munificence. 

From  the  time  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Catholic  question  un- 
til the  demise  of  George  IV.,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  adminis- 
tration had  appeared  by  disarming 
the  opposition  of  the  Whigs,  to 
have  gained  in  support  from  that 
party  more  of  popularity  than 
it  had  lost  in  the  favor  of  the  To- 
ries. We  have  seen  that  in  the 
last  session  of  the  preceding  Par- 
liament, every  motion  for  parlia- 
mentary inquiry  into  the  state  of 
the  country,  though  at  a  period 
of  deep  and  universal  distress, 
had  been  voted  down  by  over- 
whelming majorities  in  both 
Houses,  and  the  reformers  had 
been  unable  to  obtain  even  a 
transfer  of  the  right  of  represen- 


tation, from  the  borough  of  East 
Redford,  disfranchised  for  cor- 
ruption, to  the  populous  and  un- 
represented towns  of  Birmingham 
or  Manchester.  William  IV.  at 
his  accession,  had  given  his  entire 
and  unqualified  confidence  to  the 
ministers  left  in  office  by  his  bro- 
ther, and  a  new  Parliament  had 
assembled,  without  any  interven- 
ing act  of  the  administration, 
which  could  have  affected  seri- 
ously their  popularity.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  must  have  known 
that  his  ascendency  in  this  Par- 
liament would  not  be  as  entire  as 
it  had  been  in  the  last,  but  he  ap- 
pears to  have  been  altogether  un- 
aware of  the  extent  of  the  dis- 
affection he  was  to  experience. 
It  was  a  singular  but  surely  not 
an  uninstructive  spectacle  to  see 
his  fame  and  power,  colossal  as 
they  were,  fall  before  the  touch 
of  an  invisible  hand — and  that 
hand  was  the  re-expulsion  of  the 
^  elder  branch  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon.'  From  the  day  when 
they  no  longer  reigned  in  France, 
he  no  longer  reigned  in  England, 
Such  is  the  great  and  tremendous 
lesson  of  the  French  Revolution, 
—  In  all  its  vicissitudes,  the  great 
primitive  principles  upon  which  it 
is  founded  have  proved  unextin- 
guishable.  The  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington with  all  Europe  at  his 
back  had  vanquished  Napoleon 
upon  the  theatre  of  his  glory  ;  the 
field  of  batde. —  He  had  been 
'  Le  Vainqueur  du  Vainqueur  de 
la  Terre.'— He  had  led  the 
Bourbons  back  in  triumph  to 
their  throne,  and  delivered  his 
moral  lectures  in  Paris  to  the 
people  of  France  after  '  the  long 
agony  was  over.'    It  was  now  the 


448 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


turn  of  the  people  of  France  to 
moralize  with  him,  —  to  teach 
him  that  if  Salamanca  and  Vit- 
toria,  and  Talavera,  and  La  belle 
Alliance,  could  suffice  to  break 
the  sceptre  of  Napoleon,  and 
strip  from  his  brow  the  imperial 
diadem  won  at  Lodi,  and  Arcole, 
and  Marengo,  the  field  of  battle 
was  not  the  scene  upon  which  the 
French  Revolution  was  to  close. 

Three  days  of  the  barricades 
of  Paris  had  rolled  down  the 
stone  of  Sysiphus,  which  all  the 
monarchies  of  Europe  had  been 
five  and  twenty  years  in  heaving 
up.  The  long  agony  was  to  re- 
commence, and  the  fame  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  was  gone. 
The  armed  head  of  Napoleon 
might  have  risen  before  him  like 
Samuel  raised  by  the  Witch  of 
Endor  before  Saul  ;  and  have 
said,  '  tomorrow  thou  shalt  be 
with  me.' 

His  antagonists,  especially  Hen- 
ry Brougham,  had  seized  at  a 
glance  the  condition  to  which  he 
was  coming,  and  as  he  was  tow- 
ering in  his  pride  of  state,  had 
sped  the  shaft  to  transfix  him  in 
his  flight.  On  the  hustings  at 
York,  at  public  meetings  and  po- 
litical dinners,  during  the  canvass 
for  the  new  Parliament,  and  by 
various  publications  through  the 
medium  of  the  press,  he  had 
prepared  the  way  for  the  attack 
upon  him  at  the  meeting  of  Par- 
liament. This  he  made  in  a 
splendid  speech,  exposing  the 
weakness  and  inconsistency  of 
that  which  had  been  delivered 
from  the  throne,  and  laying  down 
as  a  principle  never  to  be  depart- 
ed from,  the  universal  rule  of  non- 
interference in  the  internal  affairs 
of  neighboring  states  5 — a  rule 


which,  however  occasionally 
suited  to  the  purposes  of  oppo- 
sition never  can  be  an  inflexible 
rule  to  any  administration  of  the 
British  government.  In  this 
speech  he  declared  that  the  exist- 
ing administration  was  composed 
of  the  feeblest  ministers,  into 
whose  hands,  by  a  strange  com- 
bination of  accidents,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  ever  fell  — 
hardly  sufficient  to  manage  the 
routine  of  official  business  in  the 
calmest  times — unable  to  man- 
age the  business  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  ordinary  times  —  yet 
deeming  themselves  sufficient  to 
manage  the  business  of  a  great  and 
complicated  war.  In  the  House  of 
Peers,  Earl  Grey,  with  more  dig- 
nity and  decorum,  without  insult- 
ing personalities,  repeated  the 
censure  upon  the  intention  indi- 
cated in  the  royal  speech  of  in- 
terfering in  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  Netherlands  ;  and  upon  the 
qualification  of  the  Belgian  Re- 
volution, as  a  revolt,  against  an 
enlightened  and  paternal  govern- 
ment ;  and  he  took  an  early  oc- 
casion to  remark,  that  in  his  belief,  * 
if  the  government  did  not  yield 
to  measures  of  temperate  reform, 
they  must  make  up  their  minds 
to  witness  the  destruction  of  the 
constitution ;  and  that  ministers 
might  now  pursue  with  safety 
measures  for  improving  the  repre- 
sentation, which  would  be  uhi- 
mately  forced  upon  them  at  a 
season  of  greater  difficulty  and 
danger.  To  this,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  replied,  that  so  far 
from  being  prepared  with  any 
measure  of  reform,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  no  reform  was  neces- 
sary ;  that  in  his  opinion  the  re- 
presentation of  the  country  was 


ENGLAND. 


449 


perfect,  and  that  any  attempt  at 
reforming  it  would  be  an  impolitic 
interference  with  the  best  legisla- 
tive system  that  ever  existed.  — 
'  For  my  own  part,'  said  he,  '  I 
will  say  that  I  never  heard  that 
any  country  ever  had  a  more  im- 
proved, or  more  satisfactory  re- 
presentation than  this  country 
enjoys  at  this  moment.  I  do  say 
that  this  country  has  now  a  le- 
gislature more  calculated  to  an- 
swer all  the  purposes  of  n  good 
legislature  than  any  other  that  can 
ivell  be  devised ;  that  it  possesses, 
and  deservedly  possesses  the  con- 
fidence of  the  country,  and  that 
its  discussions  have  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  country.  And  I 
will  say  further,  that  if  I  had  to 
form  a  legislature,  1  would  cre- 
ate one,  —  not  equal  in  excel- 
lence to  the  present,  for  that  I 
could  not  expect  to  be  able  to  do, 
but  something  as  nearly  of  the 
same  description  as  possible.  I 
should  form  it  of  men  possessed 
of  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
property  of  the  country,  in  which 
the  landlords  should  have  a  great 
preponderance.  I  therefore  am 
not  prepared  with  any  measure  of 
parliamentary  reform,  nor  shall 
any  measure  of  the  kind  be  pro- 
posed by  the  government  so  long 
as  I  hold  my  present  position.' 

This  declaration,  not  less  feeble 
in  argument  than  military  and 
dictatorial  in  form,  sealed  the 
ofiicial  doom  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington.  The  panegyric  upon 
the  existing  system  of  parliamen- 
tary representation,  might  have 
been  cheered  by  the  Whigs  them- 
selves immediately  after  the  battle 
of  Waterloo,  but  it  was  now  no 
more  in  season.    It  was  in  sub- 


stance what  George  Canning  had 
said  much  more  smartly  over  his 
wine,  at  every  canvassing  dinner 
which  had  been  given  him  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  It  was  very 
little  more  than  Earl  Grey,  who 
was  now  taunting  him  with  a 
challenge  of  reform,  had  said  at 
a  public  dinner,  when  in  1818  his 
loyalty  had  been  refreshed  by  the 
issue  of  the  same  battle  of  Wa- 
terloo. Twenty  five  years  before, 
Mr  Charles  Grey,  in  the  first  in- 
flammatory stage  of  the  French 
Revolution,  had  come  into  the 
House  of  Commons  in  the  fever- 
heat  of  reform.  He  had  com- 
menced his  parliamentary  career 
by  joining  in  the  clamor  for  re- 
form to  embarrass  the  administra- 
tion of  Mr  Pitt.  His  father, 
however,  had  shortly  afterwards 
been  raised  to  the  peerage  for 
sundry  achievements  of  pillage 
upon  neutral  American  commerce 
in  the  West  Indies,  for  which  the 
British  nation  were  afterwards 
compelled  to  pay,  and  the  zeal 
for  reform  of  Mr  Charles  Grey 
cooled  down  to  the  freezing  point. 
At  the  decease  of  his  father,  he 
became  himself  a  peer,  and  was 
afterwards  raised  to  an  earldom  ; 
and  for  a  short  time  during  the 
administration  of  all  the  talents, 
was  the  secretary  of  state  for 
foreign  affairs  by  the  name  of 
Lord  Howick.  In  1812,  when 
the  House  of  Commons  and  the 
Prince  Regent  were  searching 
for  an  efficient  ministry,  like  Dio- 
genes with  the  lantern  in  his  hand 
looking  out  for  a  man.  Earl  Grey 
received  the  Prince's  commands 
to  form  such  a  ministry,  of  which 
he  was  to  be  the  premier,  but 
very  indignantly  threw  up  the 


450 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


commission  upon  the  Prince's  re- 
fusal to  turn  out  four  of  his  do- 
mestic servants  dignified  with  the 
title  of  Lords  :  thereby  as  his 
friend  Sheridan  reproached  him, 
abandoning  the  welfare  of  his 
country  and  the  destinies  of  Eu- 
rope to  the  imbecility  of  Liver- 
pool and  Castlereagh,  '  for  the 
sake  of  four  white  sticks.' 

Earl  Grey  lost  also  thereby 
the  opportunity  of  bringing  the 
war  to  that  glorious  and  trium- 
phant close  —  the  conquest  of 
France,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  Bourbons.  Unable  from  his 
own  overbearing  arrogance  and 
obstinacy  to  form  a  firm  and  effi- 
cient ministry,  he  continued  the 
head  of  a  weak  and  inefficient 
opposition  ;  and  in  1818,  at  some 
public  dinner,  not  only  recanted 
all  his  old  partialities  for  parlia- 
mentary reform,  but  went  out  of 
his  way  to  draw  an  invidious  and 
offensive  parallel  between  the 
British  mode  of  representation 
and  that  of  the  U^iited  States  of 
America  —  declaring  his  decided 
preference  of  the  former. 

On  the  score  of  consistency, 
therefore,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
had  greatly  the  advantage  in  this 
debate  over  Earl  Grey.  In  the 
domineering  tone  of  their  tem- 
pers, there  was  little  to  choose 
between  them.  But  the  Earl 
had  caught  ere  she  changed,  the 
Cynthia  of  the  minute,  parliamen- 
tary reform,  and  he  returned  to 
the  standard  from  which  he  had 
deserted.  It  is  hoped  he  has 
discovered  that  the  represen- 
tative system  of  the  United  States 
ot  America  is  not  quite  so  bad  as 
that  which  gave  old  Sarum  and 
East  Redford  two  members  each, 


and  Birmingham  and  Manchester 
none  at  all. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  dis- 
covered very  soon,  and  in  a  very 
feeling  manner,  that  the  most 
perfect  system  of  representation 
'  that  could  well  be  devised'  no 
longer  reigned  in  England.  He 
could  not  show  himself  in  the 
streets  of  London  without  being 
pelted  with  stones.  —  He  was 
covered  with  odium  ;  and  pre- 
cisely at  that  moment  occurred  an 
incident,  very  trifling  in  itself,  but 
which  covered  him  and  his  ad- 
ministration with  ridicule. 

We  have  seen  that  the  king's 
speech  to  Parliament  was  deliv- 
ered on  the  second  of  November. 
The  ninth  of  that  month  was  the 
annual  festival,  known  by  the 
name  of  Lord  Mayor's  day.  It 
had  been  usual  for  the  kings  of 
England  who  affected  popularity, 
to  accept,  shortly  after  their  ac- 
cession to  the  throne,  an  invitation 
to  go  in  procession  with  the  Queen 
to  Guildhall,  and  there  to  partake 
of  a  banquet  with  the  Lord  May- 
or, and  the  Corporation  of  Lon- 
don. Such  an  invitation  had 
been  given  to  King  William,  and 
accepted  by  him,  and  the  Lord 
Mayor's  day  had  been  fixed  upon 
for  the  festivity.  The  prepara- 
tions for  it  were  accordingly  mag- 
nificent. The  precedents  of  roy- 
al conviviality  in  the  city  had  been 
drawn  out  from  long  years  of  ob- 
livion, and  consulted  for  repetition. 
A  committee  of  arrangements  had 
been  appointed,  and  the  loyal  and 
the  curious  were  all  on  the  tiptoe 
of  expectation.  Orders  had 
been  given  for  a  general  illumina- 
tion of  the  streets  along  the  whole 
line  of   the  procession.  The 


ENGLAND. 


451 


lamps  were  displaying  their  vari- 
egated colors  in  advance,  and  the 
inventive  genius  of  the  city  was 
upon  the  rack  for  designs  to  re- 
present in  elegant  and  classical 
devices  the  happiness  of  the  land 
under  the  paternal  government  of 
the  sailor  king.  The  prudent 
and  thrifty  shopkeepers  had  let 
their  front  windows  for  ^the  day 
at  prices  nearly  equivalent  to  their 
rent  for  the  year,  and  strangers 
had  flocked  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  Kingdom  to  tell  their  grand 
children  hereafter  that  they  had 
seen  King  William  feasting  with 
the  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 
All  the  invitations  had  been  issued, 
and  large  sums  had  been  offered 
and  refused  for  tickets  of  admis- 
sion. Wise  precautions  had  also 
been  taken  to  prevent  tumults 
and  preserve  order  among  the 
multitudes  of  people  who  were 
expected  to  be  assembled.  Six 
thousand  citizens  of  the  livery  of 
London  were  to  line  the  streets, 
and  nearly  two  thousand  special 
constables  had  been  qualified  by 
oath  in  aid  of  the  police. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  excite- 
ment and  apparatus  of  prepara- 
tion a  project  of  personal  violence 
at  least  upon  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington was  formed,  or  was  ap- 
prehended by  some  of  the  city 
authorities.  It  was  threatened  in 
multitudes  of  inflammatory  hand- 
bills posted  on  the  walls  through- 
out the  city.  The  Lord  Mayor 
elect  was  so  alarmed  by  these  and 
by  other  indications  reported  to 
him,  that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Duke  apprising  him  of  the  danger 
to  which  there  was  reason  to  fear 
he  might  be  exposed,  and  advised 
him  to  come  to  the  banquet  under 


the  protection  of  an  armed  escort. 
In  consequence  of  this  information 
two  successive  cabinet  councils 
were  held,  one  of  which  lasted 
till  midnight.  Communications 
were  opened,  and  continued 
through  a  whole  day  between  the 
home  department  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city,  and  late  in  the 
evening  of  the  seventh  of  Novem- 
ber, the  committee  of  arrange- 
ments for  the  banquet  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  give  publicity  to  a 
letter  received  at  nine  o'clock  of 
the  same  evening  by  the  Lord 
Mayor  from  the  secretary  of  state, 
Mr  Peel,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  copy. 

Whitehall,  Nov.  7, 
'  My  Lord,  —  I  am  command- 
ed by  the  king  to  inform  your 
lordship,  that  his  majesty's  confi- 
dential servants  have  felt  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  advise  the  king  to 
postpone  the  visit  which  their 
majesties  intended  to  pay  to  the 
city  of  London  on  Tuesday  next. 

From  information  which  has 
been  recently  received,  there  is 
reason  to  apprehend,  that  not- 
withstanding the  devoted  loyalty 
and  affection  borne  to  his  majesty 
by  the  citizens  of  London,  ad- 
vantage would  be  taken  of  an 
occasion  which  must  necessarily 
assemble  a  vast  number  of  per- 
sons by  night  to  create  tumult  and 
confusion,  and  thereby  to  endan- 
ger the  properties  and  the  lives  of 
his  majesty's  subjects. 

It  would  be  a  source  of  deep 
and  lasting  concern  to  their  ma- 
jesties were  any  calamity  to  occur 
on  the  occasion  of  their  visit  to  the 
city  of  London,  and  their  majesties 
have  therefore  resolved,  though 
not  without  the  greatest  reluctance 


452 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


and  regret,  to  forego,  for  the  pre- 
sent, the  satisfaction  which  that 
visit  would  have  afforded  to  their 
majesties. 

1  have  the  honor  to  be, 

My  Lord,  your  ob't.  serv't 
Robert  Peel. 

The  Right  Hon.,  the  Lord  Mayor. 

This  letter,  it  will  be  perceived, 
takes  no  notice  whatever,  of  the 
real  danger,  of  which  the  Lord 
Mayor  elect  had  apprized  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  —  an  attack 
upon  his  own  person.  It  cannot 
reasonably  be  doubted,  that  this 
danger  was  real.  But  it  was 
probably  not  of  a  general  charac- 
ter, nor  menacing  so  much  to  the 
properties  and  hves  of  his  Majes- 
ty's subjects,  as  to  the  person  of 
the  Duke.  The  exasperation  of 
the  populace  was  at  that  precise 
moment  so  great  against  him,  on 
account  of  his  recent  peremptory 
declaration  against  reform,  that  it 
is  not  unlikely  if  he  had  gone  un- 
protected in  the  royal  procession, 
he  would  not  have  returned  alive. 
That  the  hero  of  so  many  bloody 
days,  the  conqueror  who  had  re- 
ceived thirteen  times  the  thanks 
of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  for 
vanquishing  the  enemies  of  his 
country,  should  shrink  from  at- 
tendance at  a  royal  banquet  in 
the  metropolis  of  the  realm  from 
the  terror  of  being  torn  to  pieces 
by  an  infuriated  rabble,  is  among 
the  phenomena  of  the  times  which 
for  the  credit  of  human  nature 
we  would  readily  disbelieve,  but 
that  nothing  less  than  an  immi- 
nent danger  of  life  would  have  in- 
duce d  him  to  endure  this  unpar- 
alleled mortification  of  consent- 
ing to  the  postponement  of  the 


royal  visit  to  the  city,  to  save  him 
from  the  brutality  of  the  mob,  car- 
ries its  evidence  in  the  nature  of 
the  transaction  itself. 

But  as  the  real  dangerwhich  had 
been  notified  by  the  letter  of  the 
Lord  Mayor  elect,  to  the  Duke, 
was  masked  in  the  letter  from  Sir 
Robert  Peel  to  the  Lord  Mayor, 
by  the  substitution  of  another  and 
a  very  different  danger,  the  panic 
of  the  Ministry,  thus  communica- 
ted to  the  public  mind,  assumed 
yet  another  form,  and  nothing  less 
than  a  Guy  Fawkes  gun-pow^der 
plot,  to  blow  up  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons  at  a  blast,  was  suppos- 
ed for  a  moment  to  have  been 
detected,  and  alarm  and  terror 
took  possession  of  the  whole  city. 
—  Not  only  was  the  royal  banquet 
postponed,  but  the  ordinary  and 
immemorial  celebration  of  the 
Lord  Mayor's  Day,  with  its  pom- 
pous procession,  and  its  festive 
dinner  were  pretermitted — the 
public  funds  fell  four  per  cent  in 
one  day.  The  people  of  London 
were  disappointed  of  their  holi- 
day —  the  shopkeepers  of  the 
profits  of  their  front  windows  ; 
the  tradesmen  of  their  quickened 
circulation  of  sales,  and  all  were 
in  a  fearful  looking  for,  of  some 
tremendous  explosion. 

The  next  morning  occasion  was 
taken  from  it  for  a  spirited  assault 
upon  the  ministry  in  both  Houses 
of  Parliament.  They  were  call- 
ed upon  to  assign  the  causes  of 
this  great  and  sudden  manifesta- 
tion of  royal  alarm.  No  evidence 
of  a  plot  or  conspiracy  threaten- 
ing the  properties  or  the  lives  of 
his  Majesty's  subjects,  nor  yet 
against  his  Majesty's  Government 


ENGLAND. 


453 


or  person,  could  b  a,  Juced  — 
the  only  document  of  terrific  im- 
por  they  could  bring  forward  was 
the  private  letter  of  Alderman 
Key  the  Lord  Mayor  elect  to  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  advising  him 
of  the  danger  to  which  his  per- 
son might  be  exposed  if  he  should 
come  without  an  armed  escort, 
in  the  procession  with  the  King. 
That  the  victor  of  Assai's  bloody 
plain,  and  the  vanquisher  of  Na- 
poleon at  Waterloo  should  flinch 
from  the  exposure  of  his  person 
amid  the  multitudes  of  his  own 
countrymen,  following  his  king  to 
the  joyous  gratulations  of  the  peo- 
ple upon  his  accession  to  the 
throne  was  an  attitude,  mortifying 
enough  to  the  hero  —  and  porten- 
tous of  downfal  to  the  Prime 
Minister  of  State.  Meetings 
were  immediately  convened  of 
the  corporate  city  authorities,  the 
Common  Council  and  Court  of 
Aldermen,  at  which  a  vigorous 
inquiry  and  examination  was  in- 
stituted into  the  causes  of  this 
extraordinary  ministerial  fit  of 
vapors.  The  fears  of  Alder- 
man Key,  who  acknowledged 
he  had  written  the  letter,  were 
derided  as  visionary,  and  he  and 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  were 
jointly  and  severally  turned  over 
to  the  Pie-powder  court  of  cari- 
caturists and  ballad-singers. 

On  that  same  day  it  was  the 
.ortune  of  the  Ministers  to  bring 
forward  the  first  of  the  measures 
which  could  test  their  strength  in 
the  new  parliament.  The  plan 
for  the  settlement  of  the  civil  list 
—  that  is,  of  annual  public  income 
to  be  settled  upon  the  King. 

It  was  presented  by  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  Mr 
39 


Goulburn.    The  civil  list  is,  in 
plain  English,  the  salary,  or  as  in 
this  country  we  should  call  it,  the 
annual  compensation  of  the  king. 
It  has  usually,  since  the  accession 
©f  the  Hanoverian  family,  been 
settled  by  parliament  upon  each 
king  for   life,  immediately  after 
his  accession  to  the  crow^n.    It  is 
a  provision  not  merely  for  the 
personal  and  household  expense 
of  the  king  ;  but  includes  many 
items  of  a  character  altogether  na- 
tional.   Such  for  example  as  the 
salaries  and  support  of  ambassa- 
dors and  ministers  to  foreign  pow- 
ers.   The  establishment  of  the 
civil  list  distinct  from  the  other 
charges  of  the  state  was  created 
by  the  first  of  Queen  Anne,  chap. 
7,  March,  1701.   But  neither  the 
amount  of  the  sum  thus  granted, 
nor  the  modes  of  levying  the 
money,  nor  the  objects  of  expen- 
diture provided  for  by  them  have 
been  uniform.    There  had  been 
sometimes  grants  of  hereditary 
revenues  to  the  crown,  ind  there 
were  revenues  of  like  character 
accruing  from  rents  of  crown  land, 
and  also  from  the   Duchies  of 
Cornwall   and    Lancaster,  and 
from  the  county  palatine  of  Ches- 
ter.   These  were  dignities  held 
separately  from  that  of  the  royal 
crown,  and  produced  an  income 
usually  considered  as  the  private 
property  of  the  King.    The  an- 
nual amount  of  the  grants  which 
constituted  the  civil  list,  had  at 
first  been  from  six  to  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  sterling, 
but  it  had  been  gradually  increas- 
ing at  the  accession  of  every  kin2;, 
and  found  encumbered  with  a 
considerable  debt,  at  the  close  of 
every  reign. 


454 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


During  the  long  reign  of 
George  the  Third  there  had  been 
at  different  times,  different  par- 
liamentary dispositions  of  the  civil 
list.  It  had  been  fixed  at  first  at 
an  average  of  about  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds,  but  con- 
stantly contracting  debts  for  which 
supplementary  provisions  had 
been  found  necessary.  In  pre- 
senting his  bill  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  had  estimated  the 
civil  list  as  settled  upon  George 
the  Fourth  at  1,221,600  pounds 
sterling  —  from  which  a  deduction 
was  to  be  made  of  charges  for 
which  he  proposed  to  provide, 
leaving  one  million  and  fiftysix 
thousand  pounds,  as  the  object 
for  comparison  with  that  which 
he  was  to  propose.  This  was  an 
annuity  of  970,000  pounds  ;  and 
thus  a  reduction  of  eightyfive 
thousand  pounds,  upon  the  civil 
list  of  the  preceding  reign. 

The  first  entanglement  in  which 
the  ministry  became  involved, 
upon  this  statement  was  by  the 
disclosure  elicited  in  debate,  that 
the  surrender  of  the  hereditary 
resources  so  emphatically  an- 
nounced in  the  royal  speech  was 
not  intended  to  include  the  hered- 
itary revenues  of  the  Duchies  — 
and  when  this  explanation  was 
extorted  from  the  minister,  a  la- 
boring and  learned  argument  to 
prove  that  the  revenues  of  the 
Duke  of  Lancaster  and  Corn- 
wall were  not  the  revenues  of 
the  Crown  of  England,  did  not 
satisfactorily  answer  the  charge 
that  the  ministers  had  put  into  the 
mouth  of  his  majesty  a  promise 
of  disinterested  generosity  more 
extensive  than  he  was  ready  or 
Willi -^g  to  perform.    The  distinc- 


tion between  the  royal  and  du" 
cal  tides  in  the  same  person,  had 
fifty  years  before  been  consign- 
ed to  ridicule  by  the  imper- 
ishable eloquence  of  Edmund 
Burke  in  his  speech  upon  eco- 
nomical reform,  and  the  revival 
of  it  now  in  grave  debate  to  cur- 
tail the  ostentatious  generosity  of 
the  king,  gave  it  an  air  at  once  of 
craftiness  and  ill  faith,  bargaining 
by  an  ostensible  gratuity  for  a 
profusion  of  allowance  in  the  civil 
list. 

The  statements  of  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer  were  all 
presented  in  the  fairest  points  of 
view  to  induce  the  belief  that  a 
great  reduction  of  expenditure 
would  be  the  result  of  his  plans, 
and  he  expressly  alleged  the 
surrender  of  the  hereditary  rev- 
enues, as  imposing  upon  Parlia- 
ment the  obligation  of  liberality 
in  the  grant  to  the  crown.  But 
the  statements  were  controverted. 
The  whole  amount  of  the  hered- 
itary duties  surrendered,  was 
proved  by  Mr  Hume  not  to  ex- 
ceed twentyfour  thousand  pounds. 
The  classifications  of  expenditure 
on  the  ministerial  plan  were  de- 
nounced as  incorrect  and  the  plan 
itself  as  unintelligible,  fallacious, 
and  extravagant.  The  debate 
was  adjourned  over  to  Monday, 
the  1 5th  of  November,  and  then 
renewed  with  invigorated  opposi- 
tion. Amotion  was  finally  made 
by  Sir  Henry  Parnell  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  of  in- 
quiry, not  to  examine  witnesses, 
or  to  call  for  persons  and  papers, 
but  to  verrify  the  statements  of  the 
minister.  The  result  of  this  mo- 
tion, which  succeeded,  though  in 
form  amounting  merely  to  a  com- 


ENGLAND. 


455 


niiitee  of  inquiry  to  verify  a  state- 
ment of  estimates,  was  in  sub- 
stance equivalent  to  a  declaration 
that  the  ministry  had  lost  the  con- 
fidence of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  was  so  understood  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  and  his  col- 
leagues.   It  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of 233  against  204  —  a  ma- 
jority in  a  very  full  house  of  29 
against  the  ministers.    The  next 
morning,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
in  the  House  of  Peers,  and  Mr 
Peel,  the  ministerial  leader  in  the 
Commons,  announced  that  they 
had  tendered  to  the  king  the  re- 
signation of  their  offices,  which 
had  been  accepted.    All  impor- 
tant parliamentary  business  was 
of  course  suspended  till  the  new 
administration  should   be  com- 
pleted. 

In  the  interval  between  the 
commencement  of  the  debate  up- 
on the  civil  list,  and  its  termina- 
tion, Mr  Herries  introduced  in 
the  House  of  Commons  the  new 
schedule  of  duties  upon  the  trade 
between  the  United  States  of 
America  and  the  British  Colo- 
nies in  America.  Upon  which 
occasion  he  took  credit  to  the 
ministry  for  their  exemplification 
in  this  case,  of  the  principle  which 
Mr  Huskisson  had  avowed,  as 
fundamental  to  the  commercial 
policy  of  Great  Britain  —  not  only 
of  promoting  her  interest,  but  of 
depressing  that  of  her  rival.  Up- 
on one  of  the  items,  that  of  one 
shilling  and  tv/o  pence,  on  every 
tjuarter  of  corn  imported  from 
the  United  States  to  the  West 
Indies,  a  division  took  place  of 
136  in  favor  of  the  duty  to  36 
against  it.  The  bill  was  intro- 
duced to  secure  for  British  navi- 


gation in  this  intercourse  the 
whole  benefit  of  carrying  the  ar- 
ticle imported  from  the  United 
States  into  the  West  Indies ;  an 
advantage  which  the  minister  ex- 
pected to  derive  from  the  arrange- 
ment recently  made  on  that  sub 
ject  with  the  American  Govern- 
ment. On  the  15th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  day  of  the  vote  against 
the  ministry  upon  the  civil  list  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Lyndhurst  brought  in- 
to the  House  of  Peers  the  bill  for 
the  contingent  establishment  of  a 
Regency,  in  the  event  of  the  ac- 
cession to  the  throne  of  the  Prin- 
cess Victoria,  daughter  of  the 
deceased  Duke  of  Kent,  presump- 
tive heiress  to  the  crown,  before 
she  should  attain  the  age  of  18 
years. 

And  thus  terminated  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, after  a  turbulent  existence 
of  little  less  than  three  years  — 
among  the  singularities  of  which 
is  that  the  only  act  which  will  sig- 
nalize it  for  the  approbation  of 
posterity,  is  an  act  of  political 
apostacy  from  his  own  principles. 

The  experience  of  all  ages  and 
of  every  region  of  the  globe  has 
proved  that  the  principle  of  grav- 
itation in  physical  nature  is  not 
more  universal,  than  that  of  mili- 
tary achievement  and  renown  to 
the  government  of  the  state  . 

Le  premier  qui  fut  Roi,  fut  un  Soldat 
heureux  — 

many  of  the  most  important  qual- 
ifications for  a  commander  of  ar' 
raies,  are  equally  necessary  fo 
the  ruler  of  nations,  and  the  com- 
mon judgment  of  mankind  which 
always  moves  in  masses,  never 
fails  to  conclude  that  victory  in 


456 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


the  field,  is  the  infallible  test  of 
wisdom  in  council.  This  infer- 
ence has  not  always  been  confirm- 
ed by  subsequent  events,  and  mil- 
itary chieftains  have  not  always 
proved  the  wisest  or  the  best  of 
civil  governors.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington,  bred  from  childhood 
a  soldier,  and  having  passed 
through  a  military  career  of  un- 
rivalled splendor,  or  at  least, 
success,  had  himself  declared  the 
consciousness  of  his  own  incom- 
petency to  the  chief  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  within 
one  short  year  before  he  had  im- 
dertaken  it.  The  opinion  of  his 
incompetency  was  not  confined 
to  himself.  It  was  shared  by  all 
the  distinguished  statesmen  of  the 
realm,  of  all  parties,  but  not  by 
the  great  body  of  the  people.  — 
He  had  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion at  Eton  school ;  had  held 
many  important  civil  offices  ;  had 
conducted  for  a  series  of  years 
the  most  important  negotiations, 
and  as  a  member  of  preceding 
administrations,  and  of  both  Hous- 
es of  Parliament  had  the  most  fa- 
miliar acquaintance  with  all  the 
great  concerns  of  the  country, 
with  all  the  forms  of  proceeding 
in  the  national  councils,  and  all 
the  principles  upon  which  the 
government  had  for  a  long  series 
ofyears  been  administered.  The 
people  could  not  believe  that  such 
a  man  w^as  incompetent  to  hold 
the  reins  of  Empire.  He  re- 
ceived them  from  the  hands  of 
Lord  Goderich,  voluntarily  sur- 
rendered by  him,  as  unmanagea- 
ble by  mere  plain  good  sense  and 
honest  intentions.  The  quality 
which  had  appeared  to  be  most 
deficient  in  his  administration  was 


energy,  and  of  that  the  Juke  o 
Wellington  had  a  Benjamin's  por- 
tion. In  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs,  this  quality  is  as  indispens- 
able in  peace  as  in  war.  In  both 
it  may  sometimes  for  a  considera- 
ble period  supply  the  place  of  dis- 
cretion, but  whoever  at  the  head 
of  the  nation,  relies  upon  it  entire- 
ly will,  as  was  said  by  his  broth- 
er the  Marquis  of  Wellesley  of 
Napoleon,  prepare  for  himself 
great  reverses. 

Military  command,  essentially 
consists  in  the  unobstructed  exer- 
cise of  the  will,  over  the  action 
of  others.  The  tendency  of  suc- 
cessful command,  is  to  inspire 
disproportionate  self  confidence, 
and  impatience  of  control.  It 
produces  a  disposition  to  under- 
rate the  value  of  council,  and^ 
sometimes  an  indisposition  to  re- 
ceive it.  Frederick  the  Great 
laid  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  a 
General  who  wishes  to  do  nothii  g 
has  only  to  call  a  council  of  war. 
Decision  is  the  most  efficient  qual- 
ity for  the  gain  of  battles,  and 
when  it  has  often  been  exerted 
with  great  success,  it  leads  to  an 
under  estimate  of  deliberation, 
and  an  irksomeness  at  receiving 
advice.  In  the  selection  of  his 
associates  for  the  discharge  of 
civil  trusts,  a  military  commander 
will,  therefore,  be  apt  to  prefer 
subaltern  to  pre-eminent  talents, 
and  subserviency  to  his  will,  rath- 
er than  a  bold  spirit  and  indepen- 
dent judgment.  Such  was  the 
character  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton's administration.  The  scan- 
tiness of  talent  among  his  col- 
leagues was  a  subject  of  general 
remark,  and  their  submission  to 
his  will  was  not  less  conspicuous 


ENGLAND. 


457 


than  their  inability  by  the  process 
of  their  understandings  to  form 
and  sustain  one  of  their  own.  — 
This  domineering  temper  was 
manifested  throughout  his  whole 
ministerial  career,  and  never  more 
emphatically  than  in  the  peremp- 
tory declaration  against  parliamen- 
tary reform,  which  brought  it  to 
a  close. 

To  the  general  deficiency  of 
talents  in  the  Duke's  administra- 
tion, an  exception  must  be  made 
in  behalf  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  de- 
finitively its  leader  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  a  man  far  more 
competent  for  the  head  of  a  min- 
istry than  the  Duke  himself.  — 
There  was  for  some  time  another 
exception  in  the  person  of  Mr 
Huskisson,  of  whom,  probably  for 
that  very  reason,  the  Duke  disem- 
barrassed himself  with  as  little  of 
ceremony  in  point  of  form,  as  of 
delicacy  in  substance.  In  the 
correspondence  which  accompa- 
nied his  expulsion  from  the  minis- 
try, the  trampling  of  a  more  res- 
olute purpose  upon  a  more  intel- 
ligent mind  was  exhibited  in  glar- 
ing light.  The  melancholy  death 
of  Mr  Huskisson  preceded  only 
by  a  few  months  the  Duke's  min- 
isterial downfal  ;  and  if  his  spirit 
could  then  retain  any  portion  of 
earthly  resentment,  and  had  any 
consciousness  of  the  latter  event, 
it  might  be  soothed  by  the  recol- 
lection that  it  was  his  vote  upon 
the  disfranchisement  of  East-Ret- 
ford,  involving  the  question  of 
parliamentary  reform,  which  the 
Duke's  political  intolerance  had 
punished  by  driving  him  from  the 
highest  councils  of  his  country. 

On  receiving  the  resignations 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  of 
39* 


Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  king  asked 
them  separately  to  whom  he  should 
apply  to  form  a  new  ministry,  and 
they  both  recommended  Earl 
Grey.  He  was  accordingly  sent 
for  at  5  o'clock  on  the  16th  and 
received  the  royal  command  to 
form  a  cabinet  —  the  king  de- 
claring that  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton had  his  undivided  confidence 
when  minister,  and  that  it  would 
equally  without  reserve  be  trans- 
ferred to  his  successor.  This 
declaration  was  well  received  by 
the  public,  and  contributed  large- 
ly to  increase  the  personal  popu- 
larity of  the  king.  As  an  exem- 
plification of  the  individual  nullity 
of  a  king  of  England  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  public  affairs  it  is 
remarkable.  A  transfer  of  un- 
qualified confidence  from  a  tory 
to  a  whig  ministry,  produced  by 
a  single  vote  for  inquiry  of  the 
House  of  Commons  upon  a  bill 
for  the  establishment  of  the  civil 
list,  if  the  king  were  in  any  case 
responsible  for  his  political  prin- 
ciples would  indicate  little  stead- 
fastness of  character.  The  king 
as  Duke  of  Clarence  had  been 
an  uncompromising  tory,  from  the 
first  explosion  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution. So  sudden  ;md  total  a 
change  of  principle,  not  merely 
with  regard  to  a  single  measure 
like  that  of  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion, but  to  a  whole  system  of  pol- 
icy for  the  management  of  the  af- 
fairs of  the  kingdom  at  home  and 
abroad,  would  not  have  been  tol- 
erated in  any  responsible  individ- 
ual. In  the  king  it  was  general- 
ly approved  as  an  act  of  signal 
homage  to  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution. 

The  new   Ministry  was  an- 


458  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


nounced  on  the  23d  of  Novem- 
ber, composed  as  follows : 
fivBt  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  Earl  Grey. 
Lord    Chancellor  of    England,  Lord 

Brougham  and  Vaux. 
Secretary  of  State  Foreign  Department, 

Viscount  Palmerston. 
Secretary  of  State  Home  Department, 

Viscount  Melbourne. 
Secretary  of  State  Colonial  Department, 

Viscount  Goderich. 
President  of  the  Council,    Marquis  of 

Lansdownc. 
Lord  Privy  Seal,  Baron  Durham. 
President  of  the  Board  of  Control,  Charles 

Grant. 

President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
Master  of  the  Mint,  Lord  Aucland. 

Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Lord  Al- 
thorpe. 

First  Lord  ot  the  Admiralty,  Sir  James 
Graham. 

Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster, 

Lord  Holland. 
Postmaster  General,  Duke  of  Richmond. 

SUBORDINATE  APPOINTMENTS, 

Lord  Chamberlain,  Duke  of  Devonshire. 
Secretary  of  War,  C.  W.  Wynne. 
Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army,  Lord 
Hill. 

Chief  Commissioner  of  Woods  and  For- 
ests, Agar  Ellis. 

Master  General  of  the  Ordnance,  Lieut. 
General  Sir  Edward  Paget. 

Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Marquis  of 
Anglesey. 

Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  Mr  Stanley. 

Attorney  General,  Sir  Thomas  Denman. 

jHdge  Adv^ocate  General,  R.  Grant. 

Solicitor  General,  Sir  W.  Home. 

Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  Lord  Plun- 
kett, 

Vice  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 

Poulet  Thompson. 
Attorney  General  of  Ireland,  Mr  Pen- 

nefather. 

Paymaster  of  the  Forces,  Lord  John 
Russel. 

Surveyor  General  to  the  Board  of  Ord- 
nance, Sir  Robert  Spencer, 

In  this  list  we  find  Mr  Hen- 
ry Broughan,  transformed  into 
Lord  Brougham  and  Vanx,  Lord 
(Jhancellor  of  England.  The 
metamorphosis  was  not  effected 
without  some  difficulty.  He  had 
come  into  the  new  Parliament, 
with  highly  augmented  consider- 
ation, as  a  member  for  Yorkshire. 


His  warfare  during  the  interval 
between  the  two  Parliaments 
against  the  ministry  had  been  in- 
cessant, and  he  had  come  full 
charged  with  projects  of  parlia- 
mentary reform,  and  for  the  ab- 
olition of  slavery  in  the  British 
Colonies.  His  attack  upon  the 
administration,  in  the  first  debate 
on  the  address  in  answer  to  the 
royal  speech,  had  been  vigorous 
and  impressive,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  ministry  had  been  attribut- 
ed more  to  him  than  to  any  other 
man.  It  was  foreseen  that  while 
he  remained  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  no  administration  could 
be  safe  without  his  aid,  and  it  had 
been  supposed  that  this  could  be 
obtained  upon  more  moderate 
terms  than  it  was  found  his  own 
estimate  of  his  importance  requir- 
ed. Before  the  change  of  minis- 
try had  taken  place,  he  had  giv- 
en notice  of  an  intended  motion 
for  Reform  of  Parliament,  and 
when  the  resignation  of  the  min- 
isters was  announced  by  Sir  Rob- 
ert Peel  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, upon  the  postponement, 
with  other  business,  of  his  motion, 
Mr  Brougham  said  that  as  no 
change  of  ministry  could  affect 
HIM,  he  should  certainly  call  up 
his  motion,  on  the  25th.  On  the 
23d  he  took  his  seat  upon  the 
Woolsack  as  Lord  Chancellor, 
much  to  the  surprise  of  the  new 
opposition,  and  of  the  public,  and 
not  without  severe  animadversion. 
It  was  understood  that  Earl  Grey 
would  have  preferred  to  retain 
him  as  the  ministerial  leader  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  but  that 
Mr  Brougham  could  not  be  re- 
tained. The  peerage  and  the 
Woolsack,  were  a  sine  qua  non 


ENGLAND. 


459 


to  bim,  and  he  received  all  ap- 
proaches of  the  new  Premier  with 
a  lofty  indilFerence,  intimating  sig- 
nificantly that  he  might  not  with- 
out hesitation  accept  the  Peerage 
and  the  Chancery  as  equivalent 
for  the  representation  of  York- 
shire. These  scruples  were  how- 
ever not  of  long  continuance  ;  for 
on  the  22d  a  patent  of  Peerage 
was  made  out,  and  the  next  day  he 
presided  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

Earl  Grey,  upon  presenting 
himself  to  that  House  as  the  head 
of  the  new  administration,  made  a 
speech  in  which  he  declared  that 
the  principles  of  his  government 
should  be  economy  and  retrench- 
ment at  home ;  non-intercourse 
with  the  internal  affairs  of  other 
nations ;  and  a  Reform  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  House  of  Commons. 
These  were  now  the popw/ar  doc- 
trines of  the  British  nation. 

Thenceforward,  a  new  system 
of  a,overnment  was  to  direct 
the  fortunes  and  regulate  the 
affairs  of  the  British  Empire.  — 
But  retrenchment  and  economy 
had  been  the  avowed  purpose  of 
the  preceding  and  indeed  of  all 
preceding  administrations  ;  even 
of  the  most  extravagant  and  pro- 
fuse. At  one  of  the  most  waste- 
ful periods  of  British  history, 
when  the  annual  provision  for  fifty 
millions  sterling  of  expenditure 
was  called  for,  from  Parliament, 
a  member  of  the  ministerial  board 
solemnly  declared  to  the  House 
of  Commons  that  the  Government 
never  spent  a  shilling  without  look- 
ing at  both  sides  of  it.  A  stand- 
ing theme  and  hackneyed  boast  of 
the  royal  speeches  to  Parlia- 
ment was  economy ;  and  the 
common  effort  of  the  ministers, 


from  time  immemorial,  has  been 
to  find  out  some  paltry  superflui- 
ty to  curtail,  and  to  blazon  it 
forth  as  a  sinking  fund  to  the  na- 
tional debt. 

The  retrenchments  of  Earl 
Grey  will  not  materially  differ 
from  those  of  his  predecessors, 
and  as  economy  is  always  a  rela- 
tive term,  resting  not  upon  the 
amount  of  expenses  but  upon  the 
circumstances  and  means  of  the 
expending  party  upon  the  collat- 
eral condition  of  others  and  upon 
the  manners,  fashions  and  customs 
of  the  times,  he  like  others  has 
found  it  more  easy  to  promise  in 
Parliament  than  to  introduce  it 
into  the  complex  machinery  of 
the  Executive  Government.  The 
disclaimer  of  all  interference  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  other  States 
is  also  a  principle  subject  to  much 
qualification.  If  by  speaking  of 
the  king's  endeavors  to  restore 
good  government  in  the  Nether- 
lands the  Duke  of  Wellington  had 
intended  to  announce  the  'deter- 
mination to  restore  the  dominion 
of  the  House  of  Orange  in  the 
Belgian  Provinces,  it  was  certain 
that  object  v/ould  not  be  further 
pursued  under  the  Administration 
of  Earl  Grey  —  but  the  protocols 
of  the  five  powers  at  London 
have  too  often  and  too  imperiously 
dictated  to  the  people  of  Belgium 
their  own  destinies  to  be  rigor- 
ously reconcilable  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  non-intervention.  The 
undoubted  desire  both  of  the  Bel- 
gian and  of  the  French  people 
was  the  re-annexation  of  Belgium 
to  France.  It  was  also  the  un- 
questionable interest  of  both.  — 
Belgium  is  geographically  part  of 
France  as  much  as  the  Depart- 


460 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


menl  of   the  Seine.    The  lan- 
guage, the  religion,  the  manners 
and  customs  of  Belgium  are 
French.      Every  political  and 
moral  consideration,  that  can  in- 
fluence the  minds  of  the  people 
points    to  their  re-union  with 
France,  and  they  have  felt  and 
acted  accordingly.    They  at  first 
frankly  solicited  that  re-union,  but 
the  Protocol  of  the  five  powers 
fulminated  an  interdict  upon  that. 
They  next  chose  the  Duke  de 
Nemours  for  their  king,  and  Louis 
Philippe  under  the  rescript  of 
the  five  Powers  pronounces  a  pro- 
liibition  upon  that.     Lastly,  by 
dint  of  mere  overbearing  importu- 
nity, the  five  Powers  prescribe 
Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe  Coburg, 
whose  only  earthly  qualifications 
for  the  office  were  that  he  had 
been  the  husband  of  the  Princess 
Charlotte,  and  was  a  British  pen- 
sioner, to  the  Belgian  People  for 
their  King.    This  Prince  whom 
the  five  Powers  appear  to  have 
considered  as  a  Passe-partout  of 
a  kingdom  —  a  standing  Raffler 
for  royal  crowns,  had  acquired 
some  reputation  for  good  sense, 
by  perceiving  that  he  was  utterly 
unfit  for  the  office  of  King  of 
Greece ;  but  he  lost  it  all  again  by 
accepting  the  crown  of  Belgium, 
by  the  election  of  the  five  Pow- 
ers through  the  constrained  suf- 
frages of  the  Belgian  Congress. 
He  accepted  the  Crown  and  took 
the  command  of  the  Belgian  ar- 
my, who,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected under  such  a  leader,  at 
the  first  sight  of  the  enemy  fled 
for  their  lives  ;  and  then,  as  if  to 
cap  the  climax  of  absurdity  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  dictatorial  pro- 
tocols, a  French  army  step  in  to 


rescue  the  fruits  of  his  victory 
from  the  King  of  Holland,  and 
the  Belgians  from  his  impending 
vengeance. 

All  this  has  been  done  under 
the  auspices  of  Earl  Grey,  and 
since  his  proclamation  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  non-inter\^ention  for  a 
governing  maxim  of  his  adminis- 
tration. 

His  project  of  parliamentary 
reform  remains.  This  was  now 
for  the  first  time  declared  to  be 
the  deliberate  purpose  of  the  gov- 
ernment itself.  And  this  maybe 
considered  as  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  the  British  Islands.  It 
must  be  obvious  to  every  one  that 
a  reform  of  the  popular  represen- 
tation in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  an  abridged  duration  of  Par- 
liaments, are  of  little  importance 
in  themselves,  compared  with  the 
consequences  to  which  they  tend. 
Its  first  effect  must  undoubtedly 
be  a  great  accession  of  relative 
strength  to  the  democratic  branch 
of  the  Government,  and  a  re- 
doubled impetus  to  the  power  of 
public  opinion.  Whether  this 
advantage  will  be  purchased  by 
the  loss  of  stability  in  the  contin- 
ued agency  of  the  ruling  power 

—  whether  the  spirit  of  reform 
once  firmly  seated  in  Saint  Ste- 
phen's chapel,  will  submit  to  the 
restraints  upon  its  own  action 
hitherto  deemed  salutary,  or  re- 
strain itself  within  the  bounds  of 
moderation,  is  to  be  disclosed 
hereafter.  A  reformed  House  of 
Commons  adds  not  one  kernel  of 
wheat  to  the  harvests  of  the  land 

—  it  feeds  no  paupers  —  it  pays 
no  tithes  —  it  leaves  the  national 
debt  with  its  intolerable  burdens  as 
it  was  before.     Burdens  under 


ENGLAND. 


461 


which  a  represented  people  will 
not  be  silent. 

The  elevation  of  the  new  min- 
istry to  power  was  so  sudden, 
and  the  principles  declared  by 
Earl  Grey  to  be  the  basis  of  his 
administration  were  so  widely  dif- 
ferent from  those  w^hich  until  then 
had  prevailed,  that  time  was  ob- 
viously necessary  for  preparing 
and  maturino-  his  plans,  as  well 
of  retrenchment  and  economy  as 
of  reform.  Those  of  the  minis- 
ters who  were  selected  from  the 
House  of  Commons,  by  accept- 
ing offices  from  the  crown,  vacat- 
ed their  seats  ;  and  although  re- 
eligible,  were  necessarily  absent 
from  the  House  until  returned 
again.  Nothing  of  importance 
was  transacted  except  the  pass- 
age of  the  Regency  Bill  before 
the  Christmas  holidays,  and  on 
the  2.3d  of  December  Parliament 
adjourned  over  to  the  3d  of  Jan- 
uary of  the  ensuing  year. 

In  the  meantime  the  condition 
of  the  kingdom  afforded  but  a 
sorry  commentary  upon  the  boast 
in  the  royal  speech  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  session,  that  the  Eng- 
lish people  '  enjoyed  more  of  all 
that  constitutes  social  happiness, 
than  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any 
other  country  in  the  world.'  At 
the  very  moment  when  these 
words  were  spoken,  organized 
bands  of  famished  farmers  were 
ranging  round  twenty  counties  of 
England,  and  almost  within  hear- 
ing of  the  royal  voice,  breaking 
all  the  agricultural  machinery 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on, 
and  consuming  cornricks,  hay- 
stacks, barns  and  dwelling  hous- 
es   with    fire.     The  distress, 


which  has  been  depicted  as  we 
have  seen  in  such  glowing  colors 
in  the  numerous  petitions  to  the 
former  Parliament,  continued 
with  increasing  aggravation  ;  and 
the  disorders,  fore-announced  in 
some  of  those  petitions,  had  brok-' 
en  out  with  great  fury.  The 
constant  and  regular  operation  of 
the  national  debt,  and  its  oppres- 
sive taxation,  aggravated  by  that 
of  the  tithes,  had,  as  we  have  ob- 
served, divided  the  nation  into 
three  great  masses  of  population  ; 
one  with  overgrown  wealth  — -  one 
of  paupers  unable  to  obtain  sub- 
sistence by  their  labor ;  and  an 
intermediate  class  just  above  in- 
digence, but  gradually  sinking  in- 
to and  swelling  the  number  of  the 
totally  destitute  division.  The 
landed  property  of  the  kingdom 
has  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the 
operation  of  the  same  causes  un- 
dergone a  corresponding  mutation. 
The  small  farmers  have  been  ob- 
liged to  sell  their  estates,  to  hold 
them  as  tenants  upon  rent.  Time 
was  in  England,  says  Goldsmith, 
when  '  every  rood  of  ground 
maintained  its  man.'  There  are 
now  no  small  freeholders  in  Eng- 
land. The  race  is  as  completely 
extinct,  as  that  of  the  Squire  Wes- 
terns of  Fielding.  The  landed 
estates  are  principalities —  leased 
at  heavy  rents  and  cultivated  by 
poor  laborers  at  wages  barely  suf- 
ficient for  their  subsistence.  The 
invention  of  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery throws  vast  numbers  of 
these  out  of  employment,  and 
then  they  fall  upon  the  parish. 
The  burden  of  the  poor  rates  in- 
creases with  the  number  of  the 
poor.   The  quantum  of  allowance 


462 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


to  these  being  discretionary  with 
the  overseers,  was  reduced  to  the 
very  borders  of  famine,  and  the 
result  was  to  gather  in  every 
parish  multitudes  of  able  bodied 
men  almost  starving,  idle  for  want 
of  employment,  associating  to- 
gether under  the  pressure  of  com- 
mon wants,  instigated  to  violence 
by  a  sense  of  injustice  in  the  opu- 
lent landholders  around  them,  and 
stimulated  to  fury  against  the  ma- 
chinery, which  by  removing  the 
necessity  for  their  labor  took  the 
bread  from  their  mouths.  In  the 
County  of  Kent,  great  bodies  of 
them  had  assembled  to  break  ag- 
ricultural machinery,  and  to  com- 
pel the  farmers,  proprietors  and 
magistrates  to  raise  the  rate  of 
wages,  while  incendiaries  had  set 
fire  to  stack-yards  and  farm- 
houses. A  general  combination 
seems  to  have  been  formed  among 
them,  the  objects  of  which  were  : 
1.  To  destroy  the  labor-saving 
machinery.  2.  To  force  the 
farmers  to  give  them  constant  em- 
ployment. 3.  To  raise  their 
wages  —  and  for  the  attainment  of 
their  objects,  there  was  a  double 
system  of  operations,  partly  pub- 
lic and  partly  secret.  The  com- 
binations for  the  destruction  of 
machinery,  and  forcing  employ- 
ment, were  open  and  undisguised. 
The  incendiary  practices  were 
secret.  On  the  29th  of  August, 
at  Hardres  in  Kent,  four  hundred 
agricultural  laborers  destroyed  all 
the  threshing  machines  in  that 
neighborhood.  Towards  the  mid- 
dle of  September,  two  meetings 
of  magistrates,  and  one  of  farm- 
ers, were  held,  at  which  reso- 
lutions were  passed  for  suppress- 
ing these  disorders,  and  a  reward 


of  five  hundred  pounds  was  offer- 
ed for  the  conviction  of  the  ring- 
leaders in  these  transactions.  The 
rioters  committed  no  other  depre- 
dations of  property ;  but  broke 
up  the  machinery,  or  compelled 
the  owners  to  break  it  up  them- 
selves .  Where  they  failed  of  this 
they  burnt  the  barns  and  wheat 
slacks.  Individuals  received  by 
post  letters  signed  by  the  signal 
word  Swing,  threatening  the  de- 
struction of  their  houses  and 
barns  by  fire,  and  the  execution 
failed  not  to  follow  upon  the  threat. 
The  same  portentous  word  ap- 
jjeared  written  in  chalk  on  all  the 
walls  of  Dover,  and  for  several 
miles  on  the  road  to  Canterbury. 
Nine  of  the  machine  breakers 
were  tried,  and  six  of  them  were 
convicted  at  the  Sessions  of  East 
Kent;  they  were  sentenced  to 
three  days'  confinement  and  hard 
labor,  after  which  the  burnings 
and  destruction  only  became  more 
extensive  and  more  frequent.  At 
Lenham,  two  hundred  of  the 
rioters,  assembled  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  destroying  machinery, 
met  and  parleyed  with  the  Earl 
of  Winchelsea.  They  heard  him 
patiently,  and  declared  that  want 
of  work  was  the  sole  cause  of 
their  straying  from  their  homes, 
and  that  they  had  not  the  means 
of  procuring  food  for  themselves 
or  their  starving  families. 

At  Guestling,  near  Hastings, 
the  paupers  held  a  meeting  and 
gave  notice  to  the  heads  of  the 
parish  to  attend.  About  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  laborers  were 
assembled  ;  their  demand  was  a 
rise  of  wages  to  2s.  3c?.  a  day  in 
winter,  and  2s.  6d.  in  summer. 
The  clergyman,  whose  demand 


ENGLAND. 


463 


upon  the  parish  had  been  raised 
to  800/.  a  year,  was  required  im- 
mediately to  give  up  500/.  a  year 
to  their  employers  in  order  to 
enable  them  to  comply  with  their 
demands  ;  a  requisition  to  which 
he  immediately  agreed. 

From  Kent  the  work  of  de- 
struction rapidly  spread  into  the 
adjoining  Counties,  and  nightly 
fires  were  seen  blazing  in  Sussex, 
Surry.  Hampshire,  Oxfordshire, 
Wiltshire,  Berkshire,  Bucking- 
ham, Hertford,  Bedford,  North- 
ampton, Huntingdon.  Cambridge, 
Suffolk,  Norfolk,  Lincoln,  and 
even  in  some  of  the  northern 
counties.  The  exertions  of  the 
magistrates  to  discover  the  incen- 
diaries were  unavailing.  Several 
persons  were  arrested  upon  sus- 
picion and  discharged  for  want  of 
evidence  to  convict  them.  The 
destruction  of  the  machinery  was 
effected  in  broad  day,  by  parish 
paupers,  who  assembled  in  bands ; 
visited  the  dwelling  houses  of  the 
farmers,  and  sometimes  formally 
sent  deputations  to  demand  the 
keys  of  the  corn  houses  in  which 
the  obnoxious  threshing  machines 
were  kept.  But  their  movements 
were  regulated  by  hands  unseen, 
of  higher  intellectual  powers. 
The  letters  signed  '  Swing,'  were 
conveyed  with  impenetrable  se- 
crecy to  the  persons  addressed, 
and  the  inevitable  destruction  by 
which  they  were  followed  gave 
them  almost  the  inexpressible  ter- 
ror of  a  supernatural  visitation. 
In  some  cases  an  explosion  re- 
sembling the  report  of  a  gun  im- 
mediately preceded  the  bursting 
out  into  flames  of  the  stacks  and 
barns.  The  fires  therefore  could 
be  accounted  for  only  by  the  sup- 


position that  they  were  kindled 
by  chemical  preparations,  thrown 
into  them  by  persons  in  concert 
with  the  laborers  —  of  these  the 
usual  mode  of  proceeding  was  to 
call  a  meeting  of  farmers,  and 
meet  them,  in  numbers  from  two 
to  six  hundred,  and  sometimes 
many  more  —  and  dien  they  pre- 
sented their  list  of  grievances,  and 
demanded  employment  and  wages 
at  the  rates  above  mentioned.  In 
some  instances  they  were  success- 
fully resisted,  but  in  general  the 
farmers  were  obliged  to  comply 
with  their  demands.  At  Aving- 
ton  House,  the  seat  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  the  inhabitants 
of  three  villages  came  in  a  mass 
were  sworn  in  as  special  consta- 
bles, and  kept  watch  round  the 
house  for  three  successive  nights. 
The  same  thing  was  done  near 
Winchester,  and  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Hanburg.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  Brompton,  led  by  their 
clergyman,  met  the  rioters  and 
overpowered  them,  taking  their 
ringleader  and  ten  of  his  com- 
panions into  custody.  Military 
aid  was  in  several  cases  called  in. 
A  conflict  between  the  Hindon 
troop  of  cavalry  and  a  body  of 
more  than  500  rioters  in  Wilt- 
shire, terminated  by  a  charge  in 
which  several  were  wounded,  and 
one  man  was  killed.  At  Ring- 
mer,  Chichester,  Eastbourne, 
Lamborhurst  and  numerous  other 
places,  the  farmers  saved  their 
families  and  their  property  only 
by  complying,  or  by  compound- 
ing with  the  demands  for  em- 
ployment and  increased  wages. 

Of  these  fires  there  were,  in 
the  space  of  four  months,  upwards 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty,  at 


464 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829—30. 


each  of  which  the  destruction 
and  loss  of  property  cannot  be  es- 
timated at  less  than  an  average  of 
one  thousand  pounds  sterling  to 
each  fire  ;  the  destruction  of  ma- 
chinery included.  There  was  no 
political  principle  connected  with 
these  disorders ;  no  demand  for 
Reform  of  Parliament ;  no  cla- 
mor against  the  aristocracy,  nor 
even  against  the  payment  of  tithes, 
was  heard  among  them.  It  was 
the  cry  of  famine  for  bread.  The 
onset  of  hunger,  breaking  down 
stone  walls.  It  was  the  last  re- 
sult of  extreme  taxation  ;  of  which 
an  enormously  disproportionate 
national  debt  is  the  cause,  and 
no  mathematical  proposition  can 
be  more  clearly  demonstrated 
than,  that  until  the  cause  is  re- 
moved there  can  be  no  permanent 
pacification  of  these  disorders. 

Under  the  influence  of  the 
panic  excited  by  these  assem- 
blages and  of  the  outrages  com- 
mitted by  them,  the  magistrates 
upon  whom  they  called  to  meet 
and  confer  with  them,  gave  in 
several  of  the  counties,  their  sanc- 
tion to  the  engagements  which 
they  extorted  from  the  farmers  of 
increased  wages,  constant  em- 
ployment, and  the  discontinuance 
of  the  use  of  machinery.  This 
momentary  remedy  served  only  to 
aggravate  the  disease.  The  Mar- 
quis of  Lansdowne,  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  home  department, 
issued  on  the  8th  of  December  a 
circular,  explaining  to  the  county 
magistrates  their  legal  inability  to 
make  such  arrangements  and 
pointing  out  the  pernicious  ten- 
dency of  acts  grounded  upon  such 
principles.  — '  The  magistrates,' 
he  observed,  '  had  no  power  to 


fix  the  amount  of  wages ;  and 
any  interference  in  such  a  matter 
could  only  have  the  effect  of  ex- 
citing expectations  which  must  be 
disappointed  and  of  ultimately 
producing,  in  an  aggravated  de- 
gree, a  renewed  spirit  of  discon- 
tent and  insubordination.' 

It  requires  no  argument  to  prove 
that  in  a  land  of  freedom,  the  ma- 
gistrates of  a  county  can  as  little 
possess  the  authority  to  compel 
individual  farmers  to  employ  more 
workmen  than  they  need,  or  to 
pay  them  higher  wages,  than  by 
voluntary  consent  they  stipulate, 
or  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  labor 
saving  machinery,  as  a  riotous  as- 
semblage of  starving  laborers. 
The  moment  the  freedom  of  the 
will  is  taken  away  from  opera- 
tions such  as  these,  the  relations 
of  society  are  changed,  and  the 
community  becomes  an  associa- 
tion not  of  freemen  governed  by 
equal  laws,  but  of  masters  and 
slaves  under  the  dominiou  of  ar- 
bitrary power.  But  the  oppres- 
sion upon  the  farmer  under  such 
compulsion  may  be  further  illus- 
trated by  its  necessary  consequen- 
ces. He  holds  the  farm  upon  a 
lease  for  which  he  is  to  pay  rent 
to  his  landlord.  The  amount  of 
that  rent  must  be  calculated  upon 
the  prospective  product  of  the 
land,  deducting  all  the  necessary 
charges  of  cultivation  and  leaving 
a  profit  to  the  farmer  sufiicient 
for  his  own  subsistence,  and  that 
of  his  family.  The  use  of  ma- 
chinery, reduces  the  charge  of 
expense  for  labor.  The  rate  of 
wages  serves  him  as  a  rate  to  cal- 
culate the  expense  of  tillage  and 
the  amount  of  rent  that  he  can 
afford  to  pay.      Deprive  him  of 


ENGLAND 


465 


i^is  machinery,  force  him  to  em- 
ploy double  the  number  of  work- 
men that  he  needs,  and  to  pay 
them  double  the  amount  of  wages 
to  the  rates  which  the  market 
would  command,  and  you  rob 
him  of  all  the  profits  of  his  labor, 
you  deprive  him  of  the  ability  to 
fulfil  his  engagement  with  his 
landlord.  The  rent  day  comes 
with  a  distress.  The  farmer  is 
ruined,  and  the  landlord  remains 
unpaid.  He  too  has  his  engage- 
ments, which  the  loss  of  his  rents 
disable  him  from  fulfilling,  and 
among  them  are  the  grinding 
taxes  payable  to  the  government ; 
these  press  him  down  into  insolv- 
ency, and  react  again  to  depress 
the  value  of  land.  Thus  ruin 
spreads  over  the  whole  country, 
and  the  people  become  prepared 
for  any  revolution.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  system  of  policy,  the  re- 
sult of  which  is  to  congregate  in 
great  numbers,  a  mass  of  popula- 
tion in  idleness  and  want,  without 
occupation  and  without  subsist- 
ence must  be  essentially  vicious  ; 
no  external  air  of  prosperity  can 
disguise  the  essential  wretched- 
ness of  a  nation  in  such  a  condi- 
tion, no  reform  of  Parhament  can 
reach  this  evil.  It  is  susceptible 
only  of  one  remedy  and  that  is, 
relief  from  excessive  taxation. 

Besides  the  employment  of 
military  force  to  suppress  these 
disorders,  and  the  admonition  to 
the  magistrates  of  their  incapacity 
to  establish  a  compulsive  rate  of 
wages  between  the  farmers  and 
laborers,  the  government  ap- 
pointed two  special  commissions, 
one  on  the  western  and  another 
on  the  midland  circuit,  for  the  trial 
of  the  numerous  prisoners  appre- 
40 


hended  in  the  commission  of  these 
daring  outrages.  One  of  these 
commissions  was  opened  at  Win- 
chester on  the  20th  and  the  other 
at  Reading  on  the  27th  of  De- 
cember. Three  hundred  pris- 
oners were  tried  by  the  commis- 
sion at  Winchester,  six  of  whom 
were  sentenced  to  death  and 
eightyeight  to  transportation  for 
life  or  for  terms  of  years,  after 
which  the  commission  proceeded 
to  the  trial  of  nearly  an  equal 
number  of  offenders  at  Salisbury. 
At  Reading  one  hundred  and 
thirty  eight  of  the  rioters  were 
tried  and  all  sentenced  to  trans- 
portation except  two,  who  were 
caphally  convicted.  Thence  the 
same  commission  proceeded  to 
Aylesbury  for  the  trial  of  the 
prisoners  apprehended  in  the 
county  of  Bucks. 

The  immediate  effect  of  these 
commissions  was  to  shorten  the 
imprisonment  of  the  offenders, 
who  must  otherwise  have  waited 
for  their  trial,  at  the  assizes  in  the 
following  spring;  this  abridgment, 
besides  relieving  the  prisoners 
themselves  from  the  anxieties  and 
agitatiops  of  a  long  term  of  im- 
prisonment, had  a  tendency  to 
quiet  the  alarm  and  terror  of  their 
families  and  relatives,  and  to  tran- 
quillize the  parishes  and  villages 
to  which  they  belonged.  They 
afforded  the  opportunity  for  a 
solemn  and  public  exposition  of 
the  law,  by  the  judges  ;  of  con- 
vincing the  laboring  classes  that 
their  condition  could  not  be  bet- 
tered by  such  tumultuous  and 
riotous  proceedings,  and  the  ma- 
gistrates that  no  compliances  on 
their  part,  with  the  dictation  of  a 
lawless  multitude  was  within  the 


466 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


compass  of  their  authority  or 
could  become  obligatory  by  their 
sanction.  A  more  important  re- 
sult of  the  trials  was  the  collec- 
tion and  exhibition  of  a  mass  of 
evidence  on  the  moral  condition 
and  physical  sufferings  of  the 
agricultural  laborers  and  work- 
ing classes  connected  with  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  more  im- 
pressive than  could  be  obtained 
by  petitions  to  Parliament  or  re- 
ports of  committees  of  inquiry 
upon  the  operation  of  the  poor 
laws  and  the  corn  laws.  The 
intellectual  condition  of  the  classes 
of  people  reduced  to  such  ex- 
tremities had  never  formed  a  sub- 
ject of  parliamentary  inquiry. — 
It  was  displayed  in  the  evidence 
upon  these  trials,  by  demonstra- 
tion which  could  not  be  mistaken. 
The  greater  part  of  the  prisoners 
were  so  utterly  ignorant  of  the 
law,  that  they  had  no  conception 
they  were  infringing  it  by  break- 
ing up  threshing  machines,  by  in- 
sisting upon  constant  employment 
from  the  farmers,  or  by  exacting 
from  them  wages  adequate  to  the 
comfortable  subsistence  of  them- 
selves and  their  families.*  The 
distinction  which  they  made  be- 
tween the  destruction  and  the  rob- 
bery of  property  had,  perhaps, 
some  foundation  in  the  law  of 
nature;  and  even  the  nightly 
lires  which  spread  terror  and  des- 
olation over  a  whole  region  of 
country,  were  kindled  by  a  sem- 
blance of  public  spirit,  which 
seemed  in  their  eyes  to  be  patriot- 
ism. The  instances  of  depredation 
or  plunder  were  rare  —  those  of 
deliberate  personal  injury  still 
more  so.  There  was  nothing 
ferocious,  nothing  cruel,  in  the 


most  desperate  of  their  proceed- 
ings ;  and  even  in  kindling  the 
fires  w  hich  consumed  the  fruits  of 
the  harvests  and  the  dwellings  of 
their  owners,  they  appear  to  have 
been  impelled  by  no  stimulant  of 
malice  or  animosity  against  indi- 
viduals. 

By  what  system  of  reasoning 
they  had  been  brought  to  the 
practical  exercise  of  such  a  theory 
with  regard  to  the  rights  of  pro- 
perty, perhaps  it  might  not  be 
possible  to  discover,  but  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  special  commLs- 
sions  could  not  fail  to  undeceive 
them.  In  the  conflicts  between 
the  rioters  and  the  military  forces 
brought  out  against  them,  it  does 
not  appear  that  more  than  one  of 
them  lost  his  life,  but  the  execu- 
tion of  a  small  number  of  incen- 
diaries and  the  transportation  of 
several  hundreds  of  the  frame 
breakers,  soon  brought  their  asso- 
ciates to  a  juster  sense  both  of  the 
substance  and  the  power  of  the  laws 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks 
tranquillity  and  peace,  at  least  ap- 
parent and  temporary,  was  restor- 
ed to  the  disordered  districts. 

The  sessions  of  the  commis- 
sions continued  into  the  year  suc- 
ceeding that  of  which  w-e  now 
close  the  account.  Here  for  the 
present  we  rest.  The  year  1 830 
will  long  be  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  England,  of  Europe,  of 
Christendom,  memorable  for  the 
recoil  of  freedom  upon  her  op- 
pressors —  memorable  for  the  tri- 
umph of  the  revolutionary  princi- 
ple, not  less  over  the  sanguinary 
spirit  of  anarchy,  than  over  the 
iron  yoke  of  military  power  and 
renown.  Three  days  of  sponta- 
neous and  unorganized  popular 


ENGLAND. 


467 


resistance  '  toppled  down  head- 
long,' for  the  third  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  last  tintie,  the  '  elder 
Branch  of  the  House  of  Bourbon.' 
Blood  was  shed  to  achieve  the 
victory,  but  none  in  the  triumph. 
The  first  example  of  moderation 
and  mercy,  has  been  exhibited 
in  the  conflict  between  kings  and 
people,  on  the  popular  side. 
Charles  X.,  detected  in  the 
very  act  of  complicated  perjury 
to  his  royal  oath,  and  of  usurpa- 
tion upon  the  rights  of  his  people, 
has  been  expelled,  but  suffered  to 
live  ;  the  Ministers  by  whom  he 
was  counselled,  more  culpable 
even  than  himself,  have  been 
saved  from  vindictive  fury,  monu- 
ments of  magnanimous  forbear- 
ance in  an  exasperated  people. 
In  England,  the  revolution  has 
been  entirely  bloodless.  There- 
suit  not  of  popular  commotion, 
but  of  public  opinion  matured  by 
the  irresistible  progress  of  reason 
against  thrones,  dominations, 
princedoms  and  powers.  The 
changes  in  England  have  yet  as- 
sumed only  the  mild  and  placid  as- 
pectof reform.  Butby many,  even 
of  the  benevolent  and  the  wise,  re- 
form is  dreaded  as  the  herald  and 
precursor  of  revolution ;  of  san- 
guinary revolution,  subversive  of 
all  social  order,  and  destructive  to 
all  religion.  Let  us  hope  better 
things.  When  the  feudal  mon- 
archy of  France  fell  in  1789  be- 
fore the  republican  spirit  of  the 
age  and  the  principles  of  North 
American  Independence,  it  was 
soon  discovered  that  it  could  not 
fall  alone.  It  sounded  the  hour  of 
all  the  feudal  insthutions  of  Eu- 
rope. But  what  the  spirit  of  evil 
is  competent  to  destroy,  the  spirit 


of  good  alone  can  create.  After 
twentyfive  years  of  exterminating 
wars,  and  the  overthrow  of  almost 
all  the  ancient  institutions  in  Eu- 
rope, all  the  wisdom  and  all  the 
power  of  the  European  many 
could  accomplish  no  more  than  to 
patch  up  the  tatters  of  old  feudal 
monarchy  with  the  modern  rags  of 
popular  representation.  And  in 
restoring  Louis  XVIII.  to  the 
throne  the  only  compromise  which 
they  could  effect  between  ancient 
prejudice  and  new  principle  was, 
to  allow  him  to  date  the  com- 
mencement of  his  reign  twenty 
years  in  arrear,  and  to  oblige  him 
to  grant  by  a  charter  to  his  peo- 
ple, a  semblance  of  popular  rep- 
resentation in  the  legislature. 
Twentyfive  years  of  bloody  ex- 
perience had  taught  the  rulers  of 
the  old  monarchies  of  Europe 
nothing  but  a  tenfold  horror  of  in- 
novation. The  Inquisition  and 
the  Jesuits  were  restored  with  the 
monarchies,  and  the  charters  were 
yielded  to  the  necessities  of  the 
time,  only  to  be  undermined  or 
overthrown  as  the  favorable  op- 
portunity might  occur.  Candor 
constrains  us  to  acknowledge  that 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  social 
edifice  the  reformers  have  been 
as  feeble  and  inefficient  as  the 
adherents  to  the  dilapidated  insti- 
tutions of  antiquity  have  been 
stubborn  and  unteachable.  Of  all 
the  constitutions  fabricated  during 
the  revolutionary  period  in  France, 
in  Spain,  in  Portugal,  not  one  has 
proved  able  to  sustain  itself  for  a 
term  of  seven  years.  The  events 
of  the  last  half  century  have  form- 
ed multitudes  of  consummate  mil- 
itary chieftains  —  multitudes  of 
eloquent  orators,  multitudes  of 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1829  —  30. 


eminent  statemen.  A  legislator 
has  not  yet  been  found.  The  only 
man  of  legislativ^e  mind,  which 
Europe  has  produced  in  the  age 
now  departing,  was  Edmund 
Burke,  and  his  genius  took  the 
direction  of  sustaining  ancient  in- 
stitutions, and  rejected  that  of 
devising  and  maturing  new  ones. 
Whether  it  was  even  equal  to  this 
may  be  doubted  —  certain  it  is, 
that  neither  his  age  nor  his  coun- 
try were  prepared  to  receive  that 
^"h'^h  ho  m"ght  pcrhups  have  been 
competent  to  produce  and  to  com- 
bine. Now,  far  more  than  when 
he  lived  is  the  time,  when  the 
Island  of  Albion  needs  a  legisla- 


tor, a  mind  not  of  the  modern 
stamp,  but  a  Solon,  a  Lycurgus, 
a  Numa,  A  legislator  for  herself, 
disencumj^ercd  of  her  sister  Isl- 
and, which  also  needs  a  legislator 
of  her  own.  In  closing  with  this 
reflection  we  cast  our  eyes  over 
the  catalogue  of  the  Whig  and 
Tory  statesmen  now  figuring  upon 
her  political  theatre,  and  all  is 
desolate  and  barren.  Instead  of 
a  Solon,  a  Lycurgus  or  a  Numa, 
we  see  nothing  but  men  of  dimin- 
utive intellertunl  stature,  the  sum- 
mit of  whose  ambition  it  is  to  pass 
with  their  own  and  after  ages,  for 
British  Statemen. 


I 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 
905  AMA       C002  v.  5 
American  annual  register  or  View  of 


